


The Stars are Dark

by San_of_the_forest



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Ahsoka is older, Angst, Do I know what I'm doing?, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, If you don't like this don't read it, Infatuation at first bicker, Later Romance, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Touch-Starved, but lets goooo, later relationships, long fic, maulsoka if you squint, no, oh god here we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:15:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 126,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23865865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/San_of_the_forest/pseuds/San_of_the_forest
Summary: Everyone dear to her is gone. The downfall of the Jedi left Ahsoka struggling for balance in space where she fights for survival against those she thought her friend. But she is not alone. A half Sith, dangerous and cunning travels with her, refusing to leave her side. How could she trust him after every good person in her life has abandoned her? How could she trust him after all the death and pain he has brought into the world? She doesn't want to see all they have in common. But the truth is cruel especially when she realizes the world shapes who you are just as much as you try to change.
Relationships: Darth Maul & Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 514
Kudos: 741
Collections: Indescribably Delicious Fanfiction, Maulsoka Fanfic Writers (Discord)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi readers! Hope you enjoy this, I'm super excited to write this. Darth Maul has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw the phantom menace when I was 6. Now obviously if you look at the tags, there will be a later relationship. Because of this I have aged up Ahsoka where she is now 22. But honestly I won't be even thouching romance until later, the friendship is paramount first in my opinion. 
> 
> I hope this will distract us from the pain of season 7 ending and order 66 haha....
> 
> Anyway enjoy!

The star ship was silent. And it was a silence of three parts. The cold vacuum of space sucked away the roar of the Republic frigate and the escorting star fighters, turning the outside into the impossible void it is. Then there was the silence that almost echoed within the compact shuttle. The Clone’s comms occasionally droned in the cock pit and navigators would pass a few words, yet all sounds were swallowed by the third and final silence. It was dark and cloying and it came from one man. One half Sith.

Ahsoka sat a few meters in front of the half Sith slumped against the wall in bindings. _Red Sith, the Cyborg, Jedi assassin._ All words that passed through the almost Jedi’s head though she did not know who said them first.

_“You’re all going to burn! We’re all going to die!”_

Those words would not be captured by the silence. They echoed in her mind along with the rest. _His vision is flawed. He doesn’t know Anakin like I do. He has no reason to turn Sith, there is no darkness in him._ Yet the way Obi-wan looked when he spoke to her… Something is going to go wrong; she could feel it in the Force.

“Commander, we are three hours away from Coruscant” Rex said to her from the cock pit. Ahsoka did not respond, a dark feeling weighed at the back of her mind that only grew as they came closer and closer to the seat of the republic.

“Speak to Anakin. I should have done that earlier.” Ahsoka muttered, her hands reaching for the lightsabers he gifted her himself. She forgot she had lost them to the darkness of Mandalore and was cruelly reminded as her hand touched a long and heavy hilt that dangled from her belt. It belonged to _him_. She knew it, and it seemed like the saber knew it too. It felt wrong, poisonous, _powerful_.

 _Stop, there is no fear. We do not fear the weapon._ That’s what the Jedi would say. But she is not a Jedi.

“Nor will I be” she said. Coming back to the Jedi council, even to drop off the cyborg at her feet felt wrong to her. It felt like she is coming a step closer to forgiving their betrayal. A step she did not want to take.

“Having misgivings?” _his_ voice muttered, cutting through her thoughts like a knife. Ahsoka froze but couldn’t stop her eyes snapping up, zeroing in on the acid yellow lanterns peering at her in the darkness. They bobbed as he moved his head. ‘You do not deserve to wear that’ he growled.

“You did not deserve to wield it” Ahsoka snapped back.

“Who are you to say that?” said Maul. “Are you a Jedi? No I think not. What gives you the right to decide?”

“A sane mind and a good conscious!” Ahsoka stood quickly, looming over the half Sith at her feet. Maul scowled at her.

“Good conscious? Do not pretend that you have spilled no innocent blood. How many separatists have you cut down with those two hands? Don’t tell me they were all just droids.”

“I was doing what was right. I don’t have to explain anything to you.”

“On who’s authority was it right? The masters sitting on the Jedi council? But we both know how you feel about that.”

“They were my enemies at the time” Ahsoka muttered. “But I saw through the lies! I removed myself from their power. Unlike you, remember that? Abandoned and forgotten by your _master_.”

Anger blazed in his bright eyes, and the half Sith leaned forward menacingly. “Does that make my enemies redundant? Don’t stand there, calling me murderer while ignoring all those lives on your hands _Lady_ _Tano_!” Maul opened his mouth again to spit some poisonous insult, but something seemed to catch his eyes, and the lanterns shifted their gaze towards the cock pit. Ahsoka glared at the half Sith but turned too, yet all she could see was her clones and Rex working silently in the pilot’s seats.

“You brought _them_!” Maul growled. Ahsoka denied him a response, _what does he expect?  
_“You don’t understand! They are the beginning of it all!”

“I don’t understand anything you say” Ahsoka said. “Your mind is cracked.”

“I do not lie!” he hissed, his face contorting in twisted anger. “Search the Force! Believe that if you must!”

Ahsoka paused, her hand hovering nervously over the dual saber’s hilt. _Anakin…_ Maul’s eyes burned into her. Fierce and bright, they almost screamed. _He is scared._ The concept seemed so foreign that Ahsoka took a step back.

“You must see” he said. “You do not want my former master to find you.” His eyes burned all the brighter. The darkness in her mind grew heavier until it strained her muscles tight enough that they almost spasmed. She did not will it but her subconscious spread out of her body, probing the Force, seeking the unique energy that only her master possessed. But something was different. She felt him, but once he felt joyous and bubbly like an expensive Twi’lek alcohol. Now his life Force had stilled, it was dark and quiet like a pool of oil, repulsive to feel.

 _Anakin?_ Her subconscious reached out and gently touched his life Force. It all but exploded out in an eruption of hate. His Force screamed, burning with wrath and ire that could crack worlds to pieces. _No, master its me!_ He could not hear, and the burning Force engulfed her into the inferno. Scenes flashed through her mind, searing themselves onto her. Her master hold two sabers red and blue, as a familiar severed head rolled by his side. Him again kneeling submissive before an old hooded figure with a cadaver like smile. Its smile filled with malice as the hooded face slowly moved and _looked_ at her. Ahsoka shouted and stumbled but the vision changed again. Obi-wan and her master screaming at each other as lava and magma spewed from the ground. There were a woman’s legs lying prone just out of the corner of her vision, but she could not see who it was. _Anak-_

Something cold and heavy slammed into her leg and Ahsoka’s eyes snapped open with a gasp as she landed heavily on the floor. The inferno was gone, that dark sticky life force was gone. _No no no, that can’t- that isn’t-._

“Commander!” Rex shouted and rushed over, his blaster in hand and pointed straight down onto Maul’s head. “What the hell have you done!”

“Get that filthy thing off me” the half Sith growled and knocked the blaster away with his horns. Ahsoka glanced at her foot and gaped at the long steel leg resting close by.

“No, that is not Anakin. It’s a mistake. Something is wrong” she whispered.

“You saw, didn’t you”’ Maul growled, tossing his head again when Rex jabbed him with the barrel of the blaster. “You saw it all! Everything that your master has done and will do!” 

“No…No”

“You know it’s true!”

“Commander, what is he talking – “

The comms beeped in the frigate. It’s clear tone piercing the shuttle, and everything went quiet. The Clones in the pilot seat stopped and looked at their arm communicators.

“No, no” Maul whispered. His face snapped towards Ahsoka again, but the rage was gone, and all the fear shone completely. “It’s started”

The Clones pressed their comms and an old voice rang out across the shuttle.

“ **Execute order 66.** ”

Her boys froze. Her boys standing proud in their blue painted armour, her boys wearing _her_ face painted on their helmets. “Yes sir” they said at once.

“What?” Rex said and strode away from Maul. “Troopers! What order did you just receive?!”

“The order, commander. The only order.” They stood calmly and pointed their blasters straight at Ahsoka.

_No._

They fired. Ahsoka saw everything slow down. The sparks on the nozzle of the blaster, the pressure being released from the Clone’s trigger fingers, the bolts of blue light that arced towards her. _Why?_ She thought. _Why you?_

Suddenly they twisted to the right and slammed into the dense metal wall next to her, showering sparks onto the ground and into her face like rain. Ahsoka gaped at the trooper but spun quickly as the metal leg beside her dragged nosily against the ground as the half Sith stood up.

“Fucking Clones!” He hissed and spread his bound hands wide. His bright eyes looked at Ahsoka for just a second. _Get up_ , they seemed to say.

“Men what the hell are you doing?!” Rex screamed at the Clones and ran over to them. “That is your commander!”

They did not answer but fired again. It was all a blur. Maul shifted the Force, and the blue plasma bolts arced towards him and pierced the bindings around his hands shattering them in a series of sparks. Ahsoka deflected some again and again with the Force sloppily, not noticing that she retreated until she was side by side with Maul. Rex was screaming at his troops, his pistols whipping and smashing against their heads, but their blasters did not stop firing.

“Ahsoka, run!”

_What…Rex?_

A large patterned hand grabbed her wrist violently and dragged her towards the cockpit door. “We need to leave!”

“No... No! Rex!” she shouted and struggled against Maul as he slammed the cock pit door open.

“I will find you commander! Find Obi-wan!” The last thing she saw before the doors closed was Rex’s warm brown eyes, eyes she remembered since she was fourteen when he first said how proud he was of her. Full of warmth that ignited courage and so much bravery in anyone around him. Those eyes so full of fear as the doors closed between them.

“REX” she screamed.

Maul dragged her away, his metal feet thundering on the surface. Clones emerged from small rooms across the ship, none of them recognising Ahsoka except as their target. It was all she could do to deflect them with the Force. They poured out of everywhere and somehow the large duel lightsaber found its way into her hand. The red glow lit up the entire room, the dual edges sweeping up and down, deflecting them away from her and Maul as they pressed towards her.

“Troopers, it’s me!” she shouted, but the words were lost in the roar of blaster fire. The lightsaber spun in her hands beautifully but the impact of the plasma bolts jarred her hands as it met the deadly red light.

A button chirped and a small door hissed open. A flurry of blue light raced towards Ahsoka even as Maul dragged her in. His other hand reached over and slammed a button, the doors closing with a bang, the blue light being meet with steel instead of bodies.

Ahsoka spun around and recognised the escape shuttle Maul dragged her into.

“What are you doing?! We need to get Rex!”

“If you want to die then go on and die!” Maul roared at her. “You won’t find your dear Clone there anymore!”

“No. No they wouldn’t kill him!” she shouted back.

“I am not giving you the choice to find out!”

He turned and rushed over to the pilots chair. A republic model, yet he seemed to know where everything was. Ahsoka stood in shock as hydraulics hissed and engines hummed into life, the dual saber hanging limp in her hand. _My boys…No this can’t be happening._ She staggered as the escape shuttle disengaged from the main ship, the body dropping suddenly deep into space before it leveled. Within seconds it was flying. The stars around them blurred together. A massive boom echoing in the hollow body as they jumped into hyperspace.

“This isn’t happening” she whispered, the saber dropping from her hands. The red light shut off as it clattered uselessly against the ground. “This isn’t real…”

“The Force does not lie” Maul’s smooth voice echoed from the pilot seat. His bright yellow eyes slowly turned towards her and among the bright white and blue lights of the shuttle, they burned at her across the room. “You just refused to see it.”

“You lie!”

“Oh yes, was I still lying as _your_ men shot at us across an entire star ship?!” the half Sith swept his arm behind him. “You ignore the truth because it was cruel Lady Tano.”

Something warm and wet dripped down her face. Ahsoka gently touched the tears rolling down her marks and pattering across the floor. The darkness weighing in her mind was heavy, the heaviest it has ever been. All around her she could feel the Force going quiet, the little spots of light being snuffed out into darkness one by one until it was almost barren.

_It is happening everywhere. The Clones are attacking everywhere._

The Force was dark, all the lightness burned away. They were gone. All of them perhaps, except for Ahsoka and the strange half Sith. The silence came back. The silence of three parts but the third part did not belong to Maul this time. Ahsoka slumped against the wall, falling to her knees as those small bright parts of the Force winked out of existence.

_They are all gone._

_Anakin…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright nice a speedy update! Its was harrowing to write this chapter, for me at least it really puts into perspective how Ahsoka would have felt through all of this. I hope you all enjoy and just to reiterate, Ahsoka is aged up but even so this story will take place over years so hopefully no one will have issues with this.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, all the kudos and comments are a huge motivation <3

Ahsoka sat slumped against the wall for hours, her hands clasped against her montrals as one by one, the sparse amounts of light winked out in the Force. _No stop, please stop!_ She begged silently. Part of her was desperate to reach out to Anakin, but the vision was still seared into her heart, the vision of the old man smiling at her with Anakin at his feet. _Obi-wan,_ _are you still here?_ That smile still in her eyes stopped her from daring to contact him, for what if he saw?

_Sidious…He may be Sith, but he can’t have changed Anakin. He is the chosen one, Anakin can’t be changed!_

_“You do not want my former master to find you…”_

Ahsoka’s eyes fell to the dual lightsaber at her feet. It lay for hours at her feet, unprotected, easy for _someone_ to pick up. She slowly looked up and turned towards the pilot’s seat where the half Sith sat, languidly flicking through the readings whisking by on the screen. It was enough to drag Ahsoka out of her despair for a moment. Mentally cursing herself, the Togruta silently rose to her feet and with a flick of her wrist she summoned the dual saber to her hand. Silently, she moved along the wall and lifted up a hidden compartment. Despite Maul’s familiarity with the shuttle she could not help but wonder if he overlooked this part or did not know of its existence. A pair of cold and heavy electromagnetic restraints sat next to an emergency first aid kit, Ahsoka quietly picked up the restraints and slowly closed the compartment.

Licking her lips nervously she quickly approached the cockpit. _Don’t put up a fight_ , she silently begged. There was absolutely no space in the shuttle for a full-on fight, let alone with a huge lightsaber involved. She was barely a meter away when Maul’s bright paranoid eyes suddenly flicked up and stared at her through the viewing windows reflection.

“What are you doing?” he asked slowly.

Ahsoka cleared her voice and held the restraints towards him. “I can’t have you free” she said hoarsely.

Maul’s slowly turned and glanced at the restraints with a scoff. “You can’t be serious. Why do you think I would willingly bind myself?” his smooth voice rumbled.

“Because…” Ahsoka trailed off, her head aching with all the loss that drag against her soul. “Because I’m not giving you another choice!” she forced anger into her voice. With a deliberate thrust she ignited the lightsaber, the kyber crystals humming as they were charged into life. A red ominous glow filled the room and Maul’s eyes glanced towards the red beam inches from his face.

“You’re getting rather comfortable with that Lady Tano” Maul spun fully around, carefully avoiding the lethal blade. His black and red markings blending in with light eerily making his face flicker except for his eyes. “Let me understand something first. I am bound in chains and we are adrift in space, what are you going to do with me?” he asked, mockery dripping like acid from his voice.

“Hand you over” she said instinctually and even then, she winced at her mistake.

“Oh that is very good. Yes, hand me over!” Maul’s laughed thundered across the room, fake mirth dripping from every pore on his body. “Tell me, who will you give me too? And don’t say the Jedi its beneath you being desperate like that.”

Ahsoka forced down the wave of grief at the mere mention of the Jedi, even now she could only feel the mere handful of light burning silently in the dark. “…How about Sidious?” she muttered.

Instantly the confidence on his face melted away in a second and was replaced with pure fear. He stood lunged forward with a bang, his feet slamming heavily onto the ground making the ship rumble unsteadily. Ahsoka stepped back immediately, the red saber crossed defensively against her chest. “That is your idea to make me willingly your prisoner?!” Maul shouted. “Better you kill me now, better yet you kill yourself afterwards because if you go to him you will find nothing but death!”

The cadaver like smile flashed across Ahsoka’s mind once more and it was all she could do to stop her face twisting with fear and grief. Ahsoka’s voice trembled and she took a tiny second to quieten it. “I _don’t_ trust you! And I can’t have you doing as you wish, so please!” she threw the restraints that clattered at his feet heavily. “Put these on!”

Maul stared at her with a twisted sneer pulling his lips apart displaying large sharp teeth. His whole face burned with anger and hate, and he looked every inch like a predator in the jungles of her homeland. They glared at each other in a silent standoff, both knowing they can’t afford a fight in this space, both knowing that neither of them will conform to their plans.

“So what will you do now, while I’m bound under you?” Maul leaned forwards slightly. “Will you drag me by your side for the rest of your life?”

For one brief moment Ahsoka considered killing him. _So many problems would disappear with him gone_. There would be no presence she had to constantly look over her shoulder for, there would be no risk of being recognised by Sidious with a known criminal and half Sith by her side. But that is not who she is, that is who _Maul_ is. “I don’t know” said Ahsoka. “But I won’t kill you. I didn’t kill you on Mandalore, I won’t kill you now” against her better judgement she turned off the light saber and strapped it to her side. “And I won’t ever go to Sidious!”

The sneer became less twisted and he eyed the light saber at her waist for a moment, unconsciously her hand reached for it again in case he made a move for it.

“I was serious when I said we should work together” Maul reached down and snatched up the restraints with obvious distaste. “I will wear these to honour my word. But know this!” he leaned forwards and jangled the cuffs in his hands. “I _will not_ be in these forever!”

“That depends on what you do from now on” Ahsoka growled back. “I beat you once, I _will_ do it again.”

The half Sith scoffed and lazily slapped the cuffs on his forearms. Ghostly blue currents sparked into life and snatched the two cuffs together, pinning his hands against one another. Maul muttered some curses beneath his breath before looking at her again. “What are you going to do with me now?”

Ahsoka quickly backed away to the rear of the shuttle and pressed a large white button. A door behind her whisked to the side revealing the only living space on the shuttle. She knows the contents well, there is nothing he could use as a weapon or a tool to free himself from his bonds. “Get in” said Ahsoka.

Maul scoffed again and lazily strolled towards the door, barely across the threshold before she quickly closed the door and locked it in place. Immediately she sagged against the door, the first part was done. _What am I going to do?_ She thought and slowly the grief and despair crept back into her heart. _Is there anyone left? Is there anyone who could help?_ Part of her nearly reached out across the force again, reaching towards Anakin or Obi-wan. Even though the hate in his life Force was still etched into her heart, it took all her willpower to not reach for him. And Obi-wan…

“Are you still alive?” Ahsoka whispered. She looked at the communication console in the cock pit. It was a fools hope but her only hope, the Force was no longer her ally. She rushed towards the pilot seat and scrambled into it, her fingers shaking as she pressed the right buttons, accessing his very specific wavelength.

 _Please, please, please-_ The droning comms beeped, and a crisp crackle echoed across the shuttle. It was connected. But silent.

“O…Obi-wan?” Ahsoka whispered.

The crackling faded in an instant and slowly a familiar voice whispered across the comms.

“Ahsoka, you’re alive!” Obi-wan’s voice echoed, relief lacing his every word.

“Master!” Ahsoka exclaimed. All at once the grief and pain erupted from her heart making her shoulders shudder. “You’re okay, you’re okay” she whispered, half to herself.

“Ahsoka where are you?! Are you safe?!”

“I don’t know!” she cried. Her heart beat savagely across her ribs and she wrapped her hand across to try and sooth it. _He is safe!_ “We barely get out with our lives; we are in an escape shuttle right now. But I don’t know where we are going.”

“Who is _we?_ ”

“Me and…Darth Maul” Ahsoka trailed off, knowing what was coming.

“You and _who_?!” Obi-wan shouted over the comm. “What the hell are you doing with him?!”

“I did not have a choice!” Ahsoka shouted back. “We barely managed to capture him on Mandalore, he could have killed me twice. But then on the ship and-and all the Clones suddenly…They suddenly…” Ahsoka’s voice started to crack and she was barely aware of the hot tears dripping down her face. “They didn’t know me…” she whispered.

“Ahsoka- “

“So we ran, and we managed to get out, that’s the main thing” Ahsoka left out the part where he saved her life. For some reason if she said _that_ , she felt she would tell him of Maul’s offer to work together, and how she initially said _yes_.

“He is not safe to be around!” Obi-wan snapped over the comms.

“You don’t think I don’t know that?!” Ahsoka shouted back. “I did not have a choice! I certainly wish I did!”

Kenobi muttered something that couldn’t be made across the comms. When his voice came back it was carefully measured, and softer, like the man she used to know when she was a brand new Padawan. “You need to get rid of him.”

“I know…” Ahsoka sighed and buried her face in her hands. “I know.” Sidious’s malicious smile flashed in her mind and the shadows behind her seemed taller and more ominous. Chills crept up her spine like she was being watched. “Master, where is Anakin?”

The comms crackled silently for a long moment and dread set into Ahsoka’s heart. “Obi-wan?”

“Ahsoka…I’m so sorry. He is dead.”

His words were a punch into her heart. The recycled air ripped in her throat as she lurched forward, her hand clutching at her chest. The words were blades and they cut and ripped into her heart like a cruel weapon. “No…No he can’t be.”

“He is.”

“B-But how?” Ahsoka whispered. “I felt him in the force! He felt different but he was there!” _he felt angry, hateful and like he was suffering._

“It was me Ahsoka” Obi-wan said softly.

Ahsoka’s eyes widened, her whites almost glowing in the reflection. “What?” _No, no, no no-nonono.  
_“You didn’t. I felt him just before- “

“He went to the darkside Ahsoka” Obi-wan cut in, his voice trembling with grief. “Palpatine is Darth Sidious. It was a mistake on my part, on the _councils_ part to ask Anakin to spy on Palpatine. Everything he has done, every word he shared with Anakin was just a ploy to slowly corrupt him further and further from the light.”

“No. No” Ahsoka said, angrily rubbing the tears from her face. “You didn’t. No. Even if he did turn, you’re his master, his best friend, you could have changed him- “

“He killed the younglings. He killed all of them.”

Her last strand of strength crumbled in a second. It was too much, it was all too much. A horrendous scream echoed across the shuttle but Ahsoka didn’t even recognise it as her own. “He would never- “she began to shout.

“He killed Padme, Ahsoka!” Obi-wan near shouted, and even then, the proud Jedi master’s voice began to break. “She was pregnant with _his_ children and he killed her. He had to be stopped…He had to be…”

Ahsoka’s face twisted up to the ceiling, tears streamed down her face as she shook her head from side to side. _There is a mistake…That’s not Anakin that’s not my master. He can’t-He loved Padme. He cared-_

A small babies cry echoed out from the communicator.

Ahsoka froze, the noise cutting through the grief sticking to her mind. “Wha…What was that?” she asked shakily.

“Ha” Obi-wan laugh sounded like a sob. “This…This is Luke, and his sister Leia. Padme’s and Anakin’s…I managed to save them both.”

“T-Twins?” Ahsoka whispered her hands gripping the montrals on her head.

“Yeah, they are so very small.” A baby gurgled over the comms and it was all Ahsoka could do to not choke on her breath.

“Master, where are you?” she whispered.

“I can’t tell you” he hissed back. “I want to, but I can’t. We don’t know who could be listening.”

“How can I find you then?”

“You can’t. Not for a long time, maybe not while I’m still alive.”

“No” Ahsoka said, the tears fresh again down her face, “No, I won’t abandon you!”

“You’re not abandoning me. You never will be” the softness was back in his voice. “I don’t know when I will see you again…If I will see you again. But Sidious will be looking for me, not you. You’re not a true Jedi, you must escape while you have a chance.”

“I can’t…I can’t leave you like this.”

“You’re not. Ahsoka…” his voice sighed. “I love you like my daughter. You must know that- “

Obi-wan’s voice cut off as footsteps began thudding on the ground close to him. “I must go!” he whispered. “And Ahsoka, may the Force be with you.”

“The Force be with you” Ahsoka replied and with that the comm went dead.

Though the comm was silently, Ahsoka’s hands lay upon it secretly begging for another transmission, no matter how brief. It was a fruitless pursuit, but the only one she had.

In a haze she barely remembered disengaging the hyperspace drive, the bright streaking stars snapping back into thousand upon thousands of bright specks drifting by so slowly. In her mind there was a small picture of Anakin, his last smile he gave her before he left for Coruscant with Kenobi. It was fractured now, like broken glass. Despite it all she could not still could not believe what he done, the betrayal, the murder all the hate he found that drove him to this. _You are dead. Let me remember you as the person you were once._ If he was dead, then it was enough. It was enough to forget the younglings, to forget Padme’s true death. Because the man she knew would never do such things.

“I still believe in you Anakin. I still do.”

But then she remembered another person. The man who told her all that would come to pass, that sat bound in the room behind her. _He wanted my help; he must know some things._

Stumbling to her feet, Ahsoka quietly walked to the living quarters and opened the door with a press of a numb hand. It opened with a hiss, and inside those two glowing eyes met her own.

Maul said nothing as Ahsoka quietly walked inside, the door closing behind her ominously. She was grateful, she didn’t know what she would do if he found some spiteful insult to say now. The door was cold on her back, colder at the bottom as she slid to her knees, leaning against it for support.

He was still quiet but sensing her grief he leaned forward.

“What have you learned?” he asked quietly.

Ahsoka winced and looked to her side, not being able to face his knowing eyes. “Everything you said was true.”

Maul nodded but said nothing and when Ahsoka dared a glance towards him she was almost relieved there was no pride to his face like she expected. In fact he seemed just as defeated as her.

“I felt it in the force too” he started. “The light going dark.”

“Did you appreciate that Maul?” Ahsoka growled, her fist clenching in rage.

“No.”

Ahsoka’s face snapped towards his and was shocked at the open honesty upon his face. “I have no love for Jedi. But I have no love for Sith…not anymore that is.”

“Why?”

“Because both took it all from me. They took it all from you too.” He peered at her in the dark his eyes moving across her face. Slowly she reached up and felt the tears dripping down it.

“He’s dead…Anakin is dead.” She did not know why she said it, maybe it was because of his eyes that seemed to look deep into her soul. Maybe it was because she wanted to share her grief with another person, despite who it was. It is what the people on her home world would do.

Maul nodded again. "It is better he died now, and not turn into the Sith Lord I foresaw.”

The words were like a knife to her heart, right where the fractured image of Anakin was so recently placed in the corner. Anger welled inside of her, burning away the tears that fell.

“I was told to get rid of you. _Obi-wan_ , told me to get rid of you.”

Maul sneered at the name and growled under his breath. “But you’re not Kenobi. It seems to me that what I want doesn’t matter to you. So be it. But it’s up to you and you alone what happens to me in this moment alone. Kill me if you wish, though you said you wouldn’t.”

“You seem so eager to die” Ahsoka said, touching the saber at her side. “Why is that?”

Maul said nothing but stared at her, though there was no malice in his eyes. “I may tell you one day. How about this, let’s make an agreement.”

“What?” Ahsoka frowned.

“Let me live tomorrow and I will tell you a small bit about me” Maul smiled. “If that doesn’t please you then kill me. But if you let me live, I will tell you a little more the next day until you decide my fate.”

Ahsoka stared at him in disbelief. The whole concept seemed so ridiculous that she had to take a moment to understand what he said. “Do you think _your_ life story will make me want to keep you around?!”

“Wait until tomorrow to find out.”

Ahsoka scoffed and got to her feet, her hand falling away from the saber. “I doubt anything you say is worth my attention” she said with a sneer.

The time with the half Sith was enough, she forcefully got to her feet to leave, to be alone with her grief. As the door began to slide close, she turned just in time to see those flaming eyes watching her knowingly. Brazen with mockery and the constant anger that always simmered in their pits, he watched her knowingly.

 _Leave me be_ , she thought. But as the door closed, she was left alone in the cold shuttle in even colder space surrounded by the death of Anakin. It burned her more then Maul’s anger or hate ever could. 

_You will always be Skyguy to me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, i feel bad because after writing all this sad stuff all I can think of is memes. But I do want to say, Ahsoka's thoughts about Anakin is not her forgiving his crimes. Grief and shock affect us all differently and I believe she can't even acknowledge the atrocities he committed, just like she could hardly believe Darth Vader is Anakin in rebels until the very end.
> 
> I will be approaching her feelings as she comes to terms with this but I believe it will take her time to even acknowledge them.
> 
> Anyway thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys here is the chapter. It is longer than the last I hope you like that, getting into the nitty gritty conversations between these two. Oh god episode 11 is being released today, i don't know if I'm ready. Anyway enjoy, all the kudos and comments are wonderful to see :)

The fuel gage droned across the shuttle forcing Ahsoka’s tired eyes to drag towards the board. She sighed, there was only a few rotations of fuel left, and from what she could tell, Maul had hurtled them far into the outer rim.

 _He is so very good at running away, what a noble trick he learned,_ she thought scornfully. Obi-wan himself said she should run. And what better place to run away then the un-aligned systems at the very edges of the galaxy.

That broken image of her master was still burning in the corner of her heart. Ahsoka wondered where he died. Obi-wan did not say but she wish he had, perhaps if she was where Anakin died, she could then understand. If there was anything left of him. Wincing at the thought, she recounted Maul’s injuries at Obi-wan’s hand but quickly shunted it aside. Ahsoka felt herself being rung out. The grief drained any strength from her like a broken pipe. When she looked at her trembling hands, she could not remember the last time she ate, when she saw the dark pits her eyes became, she could not remember the last time she slept.

 _It can’t have been long_ , she thought as she staggered to her feet. _I only escaped two days ago…Or was it three?_ On the rear occasion when Ahsoka closed her eyes she could still see the blaster fire narrowing in on her, she could hear Rex’s screams of despair. Sometimes she could feel the phantom of Maul’s hand gripping hers as he dragged her away.

Sometimes she could feel the half Sith’s life Force stretching out and brushing against hers inside the shuttle. She never responded, his Force felt dark and full of such rage and fear that even the barest touch sent shivers down her spine. _I wonder what he is looking for, most likely my weakness._

Ahsoka still had not decided the half Sith’s fate, even though he had proposed he talk to her. The only facts she knew of him is his hatred for Jedi particularly Obi-wan, that he overthrew a government killing duchess Satine in the process and that he wanted to kill Anakin. She had more than enough reason to kill him. Her hand bunched into fists, her knuckles pearling in the low light. Some part of her resented herself for _asking_ him to put the cuffs on. Her master or Obi-wan would have cut him down to his knees a few times before taking his barely conscious body to the council.

She had the saber, she had the power to do just that. She should do it.

“Fuck him” she hissed. A plan formulated in her mind, something to anger him to give her a true reason to get rid of him. _It’s been a long time since we captured him._ She shakily got to her feet and opened the cool container that contained the emergency rations stowed neatly away. They were tasteless like packages of nutrient bars and fluids. Gross, unsatisfying, but all she had.

She scooped up most of it, too much for her but perhaps enough to goad him into rage, it certainly did not take much. Walking to the door, she slammed to button in her anger making the door slide open with a hiss, what she saw wasn’t what she expected.

The lights were off.

Blinking quickly in the darkness she could just make out a figure so well blended in it was near impossible to detect. Maul was lying against the bunk and his eyes were open, catching the meagre light entering the room but they stared straight up into the ceiling unblinking. Looking for something. His lips were moving silently, only the vaguest mutterings catching Ahsoka’s ears. Even then she could tell it wasn’t the common tongue. Chills creeping up her spine, she quickly reached over and slammed on the lights.

Maul’s head snapped up, a growl rumbling out of his throat. His eyes burned. Burning with what Ahsoka could not say but she found herself taking a step back, unsettled by what she walked in on.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Ahsoka said.

Maul said nothing but glared at her, one of his iron feet tapping on the ground. Glaring back, Ahsoka closed the door and got herself comfortable on the ground, trying to shut out the almost possessed thing she walked in on. Maul’s eyes followed her the entire time, glinting in the dark.

 _Good,_ she thought. A bag of nutrient bars ripped open in her hands, stale yet somehow milky smelling air puffing into her face noticeably. Slowly fishing out a powdery bar she bit into it with relish, holding Maul’s eyes with her own the entire time. She wouldn’t pretend it was nice, but at least she was the one eating and not him. Still nibling on her nutrient bar Ahsoka watched him closely. _What was that. What the hell he was just up to._ She glanced quickly at his bound hands and froze when she saw them trembling. A quick look back at his eyes told her all she needed to know. They were fever bright and glossy, hardly blinking as they stared right back at her. Something was wrong.

“You are sick” she said. “What have you been doing?”

“ _He_ is looking for me!” Maul hissed.

Ahsoka hand spasmed and the bar clattered into the bag. “Sidious, is it Sidious looking for you?!” _Palpatine…_ the name echoed in her mind. His wretched smile hovering so near but out of sight.

“I’ve been…Blocking him. But I’m tired.”

“Is he looking for you right now?!”

Maul said nothing but stared at her feverishly.

“Maul?!”

“NO!” he shouted suddenly. “He tried to find my life Force. For three whole fucking rotations he tried to find it. But no, no! I hid it from him. Yes, I hid it well. He will most likely think I am dead! Yes.” 

“Why…Why is he looking for you?” Ahsoka asked, fear poisoning her words.

“I don’t know!” he seethed. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out. But you!” he jangled his bound hands at her. “I tried contacting you, did you not feel me?!”

Ahsoka stilled and remembered the brief times she felt his life Force brushing against her own. “I did.”

“THEN WHY DID YOU NOT COME?!” Maul screamed and rose to his feet. Ahsoka quickly stood up too her hands gesturing out peacefully. “HE WAS SO CLOSE TO FINDING ME! AND IF HE DID THEN WE WOULD BE DEAD! WE WOULD BOTH BE DEAD AND- “

“ALRIGHT!” Ahsoka screamed back. “Alright!” breathing quickly, Ahsoka gripped the dual saber at her side nervously. “It was a mistake! It was a mistake to ignore you I seriously did not expect that!”

Maul seethed and paced around the room, his robotic legs booming on the ground. “If he found me… If he found me then- “

“But he didn’t! You said you were able to block him!”

“He is Darth Sidious! If he truly wanted to find me, he would’ve in seconds!”

“If what you say is true, then finding you isn’t his top priority. He did not invest his whole power into finding you!” Ahsoka took a step towards Maul who glared at her with such fear it hurt to look at. “You resisted for three whole rotations! He has stopped right?!”

“…Yes.”

“Then he must have given up.”

“You don’t know that!”

“And you don’t know that he hasn’t given up” Ahsoka lowered her voice. “If you contact me with the Force, I will come next time.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake just kill me!” Maul shouted. Immediately he strode towards her and even though he was restrained, the dual saber was in her hands in an instant. “Go on and do it!” he yelled, his face baring in a few inches from her face.

“No.” She winced as she said it, knowing the hypocrisy as not minutes before she actively planned for an excuse to rid herself of him. Maul growled, his face twisted into a sneer, easily seeing her deception. He growled like a caged animal full of fear and rage.

“If he tries again, he may find me!”

He made a point, a very good one that gave her all the reason she needed to dispose of him. Yet in the moment, with the saber in her hands she could not find it in herself to ignite it. “Sit down” with deliberate slowness Ahsoka strapped the saber to her waist. “Come on sit down!” the bunk was cold and thinly padded but all that was in the room.

“No.”

“Maul…” Ahsoka said trying desperately to calm him down. The half Sith did not look at her and paced the room like she wasn’t there. He did not trust her; he did not trust anything. “Okay… Alright. Give me your hands.”

The half Sith stopped and narrowed his eyes at her, the burning lanterns trying to dissect her true intentions. “It’s fine…Just give me your hands.”

He glared at her for a long moment, and Ahsoka began to think he would refuse until reluctantly, Maul extended his bound hands across the small distance between them. Slowly she reached out and took one of his long, rough hands in her own and turned it slightly. At the base of the cuff was locking function that could only be released with her DNA as she was the one to put them on him. She pressed the pad of her thumb into it and a small needle emerged pricking her flesh sharply. A tiny bead of blood dripped into the catch and the lock function flickered green for a moment and then the heavy restraints collapsed to the floor. Ahsoka quickly snatched back her hand and scooped up the cuffs.

“This is temporary. They will be going back on” Ahsoka looked back at him. He gaped and slowly flexed his hands. The rage washed off Maul’s face for a moment, but it would seem that rage was all that kept him standing. His knees buckled slightly, and he staggered towards the bed, landing in it loudly. He said nothing and buried his face into his newly freed hands.

Ahsoka looked away uncomfortably. After everything, seeing him like this, being so vulnerable felt very wrong. She snatched up the nutrient bars packet and held it out to him. “Here” she jostled the bag. “You need to eat.”

Maul looked up briefly at it and sneered. “I can’t eat that.”

“Why not?”

Maul paused and gave her an incredulous look. “I seem to be missing half my digestive tract if you haven’t noticed! I can’t eat most things.”

Muttering under her breath, Ahsoka quickly marched out of the room and into the main shuttle where the cooled compartment is. Holding the restraints tightly, she scooped two protein shakes contained in soft silicon pouches out of the unit and hurried back inside. Maul’s gazed into the floor and didn’t look up even as Ahsoka stood before him with her offering.

“What about these?”

Maul rolled his head up tiredly and look at the unappetising beige packets, nodding he took one out of her hands. Ahsoka watched him out of the corner of her eyes and tried nibbling the nutrient bar idly, but her hunger was forgotten. _Why do I feel…Guilty? He is the last person I should feel guilty for_. Yet something Obi-wan said to her long ago about Maul stuck in her mind. Stewing on the thought she watched Maul rip the top corner of the pouch off with his teeth and began drinking down the beverage. From his expression, it was no more pleasant than the nutrient bars.

“I learned- I _heard_ once that you did not become Sidious’s apprentice willingly” Ahsoka began.

Maul’s eyes snapped to her again, his hand crushing the supple packet slightly. “By heard you mean _Kenobi_ told you.”

The way he said Obi-wan’s name snapped all patience she had left. “Okay look here is the problem I’m having” Ahsoka turned and stood over the half Sith. “One minute you ask me to kill you! The next you propose an opportunity for me to listen to you and decide _if_ I should let you live. Yet when I bring up one of the few things I do know about you, you fucking do this! Commit yourself to if you want to live or die.”

“The same could be said to you _Lady Tano_!” Maul sneered. “I think you are looking for a reason to kill me, yet I gave you more than enough reason with Sidious looking for me. Instead you give me food, you unbind my hands. What does that say about _you_? You want to know what I think?!”

“No- “Ahsoka began.

Maul carried on, headless of her choice. “I think you won’t kill me. Because of _me_ I am the only reason you don’t succumb to that festering repugnant grief that is practically oozing off of you! Having something _challenging_ to think about, having some purpose is the only thing keeping you upright!”

“No” Ahsoka shook her head eyes burning with tears, she stepped away from the half Sith. “The reason why I don’t kill you, is because that is exactly what _you_ would do.”

“So out of spite you won’t.”

“No- yes! I don’t know” Ahsoka felt her legs shake and uneasily leaned against the wall, the bright lights shining off of her from above. “I don’t know what to do any more than you.”

“I know that if you won’t kill me then we should run.”

“There are only two rotations of fuel left. We cannot run for much longer.”

“Get a new ship” Maul said.

“Oh of course. With what money do you have in mind?!” Ahsoka sneered.

“I united and ruled over three crime clans and the planet Mandalore, do you seriously believe I have no money?”

“Well where is it?” Ahsoka glared. “And don’t say the bank, there is no way we can access that now.”

Maul scoffed and with his free hand he slowly reached down and tapped the side of his robotic hips. A groove pressed out and many gold credits fell into his hand.

“Oh” Ahsoka said. _That is a lot of money._

“I always intended on escaping Mandalore, do you think I would leave without reassurances?” he slipped the clinking metal back inside the groove and it sealed it together seamlessly. When Ahsoka said nothing, Maul sighed and went back to unhappily sipping his drink.

Rubbing her eye, Ahsoka slipped down and sat against the wall. “Tell me about your life then.”

Maul snorted and drained the last of the protein shake. “Still weighing up my fate?”

“Yes” Ahsoka said and picked out the nutrient bar from the packet. “Go on, tell me.”

Maul sighed and stared out at the wall for a long moment. Memories fired one by one around his brain yet all Ahsoka could see on his face was loss. “I did not willingly become my masters apprentice.”

“What happened?”

“My mother was Mother Talzin, have you heard of her?”

“Yes I actually have” Ahsoka nodded and leaned forward. “I heard that she was the leader of the night sisters and possessed magic powers beyond the Force. Everyone called her Mother apparently.”

“Yes well she was my actual Mother, my biological one.”

“Oh.”

“She would speak frequently with Sidious, trading wisdom and information. When I was three years old I stumbled across them having such talks” Maul’s face darkened as he spoke. “He looked at me, it felt like he stared right into my soul. And I heard him say – ‘The Force circles deeply in this child.’ My mother said nothing, but I distinctly remember the look on her face.”

He was quiet for a moment, lost in memory perhaps his oldest memory. Sadness shone from his eyes.

Ahsoka found herself tearing off the corner of the second protein shake. She passed it to him silently, their fingers brushing as he accepted it. They were not only rough but very warm. “Then what happened?”

He still stared at the wall, he sipped the drink robotically, when he continued his voice was soft. “It was in the night. Very late when I was woken up. My brothers were left alone it was just me woken. But I didn’t recognise the person other than that she was a night sister. She told me to come with her, take nothing except the clothes I slept in. I was taken out into the forest. Deeper than I had ever explored. I looked away for a moment and when I looked back, she was gone. I remember sitting there for a while, waiting for her to come back but she never did.”

“Then he appeared. He walked right out of the shadows and he offered me a choice. He said – ‘You can join me, become more powerful than you ever dreamed. Or you can die here.’ An obvious choice” he sipped the pouch again.

“You were abducted” Ahsoka said softly. “Did no one come to find you? To look for you?”

“If someone did, I will never know. But I doubt it, people were most likely told I died in the night.”

 _He was three…He was barely older than a baby._ “That was cruel” Ahsoka found herself saying.

Maul look at her, and he looked so exhausted. “One of many cruelties” he muttered.

She knew it would be bad, she knew. And yet she found herself asking anyway. “What was the training like?”

Maul scoffed but there was no heart in it. “At first I learned to fear mistakes, the punishments were diverse and ruthless. When I stopped making mistakes I learned to fear failure, because they entitled death” he drained the beverage in one go, his hand angrily squeezing every drop out of it. “Use your imagination to figure out what that was like.”

Ahsoka stood helpless against the wall. “You couldn’t run away?”

“No. And even then, I was becoming more powerful every day. I soon didn’t want to run away, thinking I would never fail. Kenobi taught me differently” he finished spitefully. Ahsoka looked down at her feet and Maul stared at her critically. Shaking her head, she made to finish her nutrient bar. _But you’re running now aren’t you?_

“The Jedi order is no different in my opinion” Maul’s voice echoed in the shuttle.

Ahsoka snapped her head up. “It’s completely different!”

“No, it’s not. Children are taken from their homes at young ages, before they can form true attachments and from there it’s just brainwashing and training. It’s not that different.”

“But there is no brutality, there is no threat of death at all let alone to a near baby.”

“Hm, you’re right about that” Maul blinked slowly and idly grabbed one of his horns close to his temple. “I’m tired Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka’s ears pricked, she never heard him say her first name alone before. She didn’t mind it. She placed the bag of nutrient bars at her feet and quickly walked over to him with the cuffs. “These need to go back on…”

Maul snorted but put the empty drink packets aside before offering his hands. “Decided what to do with me now?” he asked as she took one of his hands and slipped a cuff over his wrist.

“Not yet. Maybe when you talk to me again tomorrow.”

“Keeping me in such suspense with your choice”

“No” Ahsoka sighed and slipped the other cuff over his remaining hand. _They are still shaking_ …  
“If Sidious tries to find you in your sleep, will you know?”

“His Force is hard to miss” Maul said. “Next time, come if I contact you.”

The cuffs chirped and the familiar ghostly lines snapped his wrists together. Ahsoka let go of his hands and they immediately sagged without her support. “Yes.”

“Good” Maul sighed and lay down awkwardly on the bunk. Ahsoka turned, switching off the lights as she made to leave when the half Sith spoke again. “I would like food more regularly that four rotations too.”

“Yes but if I do decide to kill you it may be better to have you nice and weak.” Ahsoka smiled slightly at his growled mutterings and closed the door in her wake. As soon as it shut the smile vanished from her face. 

Their conversation left her cold and drained. Her insides squirmed uncomfortably that what must have been an hour ago she actively wanted to kill him. _If Sidious finds him I have no choice but to kill him_. That she realised was her ultimatum. She couldn’t find it in herself to kill him now, but if Maul was successfully detected, then for her own safety she would commit herself to ending his life. Everything the half Sith said sat in her brain. _I wonder who he could have been if he was never sold to Sidious._ She could guess the brutality he endured if he was so scared of him now. She realised then that if she had to, she would also kill Maul to save him from such fate. 

_Obi-wan knew all this too, or at least he guessed. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t hate Maul as much as he should_.

The pilot seat was too comfortable as she slipped into it, the slowly drifting stars and monotonous drone seeped away at her until her eyes slowly began to close. Her breath levelled as soon she was sucked away into oblivion.

But it did not keep her.

Light flashed all around her, but in dark reds and burnt oranges. A spray of it came so close and slapped at the rocky ground by her feet. She blinked and realised she was not on the shuttle anymore. Burning fumes and sulphur slapper her in the face making her gag. _What is-_

“I HATE YOU!”

Ahsoka spun gasping at the flurrying pools of lava and magma that exploded upwards all around her. She threw a hand desperately over her eyes to block out brightness of the light when she saw the burning figure.

Its arm was gone and both legs, its whole body aflame and roasting the flesh off the blackened bones emerging from the grotesque face. The harsh screams morphing into rattling breaths and moans as its throat burned into ash. It was crawling towards her. 

“Who are you?!” Ahsoka shouted at the figure. The things blackened face twisted up at hers, both sickly yellow eyes piercing with such hate it chilled her blood. “Who are you?!” she screamed once more.

“My apprentice…” a black voice hissed in her ear. A cold hand clapped on her shoulder and the erupting lava when silent and dark. Ahsoka spun around and _he_ there, his thin rotting smile peering at her from the depths of his hood. “He is mine now…” the voice whispered, “he will be your death.”

“No…No” Ahsoka whispered. Sidious’s hand was ice, she tried to shake it off, but her body was paralyzed. “That’s not him. That is _not_ him.” Sidious mouth split open as a cackle rattled out of his throat, booming and echoing around the dark space. “It’s not him!” she shouted when another hand a warm one dropped on her shoulder from behind.

Sidious’s cackle died immediately, his twisted smile pulling down into a sneer. “You should be dead” he snarled.

“That would be too convenient for you” a familiar voice said.

Ahsoka found her head turning and looking down at the black and red patterned hand touching her shoulder possessively. _It’s you…It’s you_. Turning her head further Ahsoka looked up into the eyes of Maul, his bright lanterns fixating her completely from Sidious in front of her and his icy hand.

“Wake up lady Tano.”

Ahsoka woke up with a half-muffled shout. _Did Sidious find him!?_ She thought in a panic and without a second thought raced towards the Maul’s chamber. She slammed the button and the door slid open in a familiar hiss and peered into the dark room.

Maul was asleep. His chest rising and falling slowly, but even then his face was contorted, his lips mouthing words in his sleep. As Ahsoka stepped into the room his eyes snapped open like blinds and stared at her from the darkness. He growled but otherwise remained silent.

“Did you…Is he looking for you again?”

“…No” Maul said and slowly sat up. “Why?”

“I… No it was just a dream. It was just a dream” Ahsoka rubbed her face.

Maul was silent for a moment and sat up. “Do not dismiss your dreams Lady Tano.”

A wave of loss washed over her as she remembered the burned demented figure crawling out of the fire desperately towards her _. Could that have been…_

“I wish that it was just a dream. I don’t think it was…”

Maul nodded and lay back down. “I’ve had many dreams that are not fictional. But go back to sleep. Too much has happened for any Force dreams to be prophetic without further insight.”

His words brought her some small comfort and she remembered the warm hand pulling her away from Sidious’s touch. The comfort remained in her heart. With a nod she closed the door and left him in the darkness.

Ahsoka went back to the pilot’s seat but refused to fall back into the darkness that was trying desperately to pull close her eyes. She did not want the dreams again; she did not want Sidious’s dark smile or the burning man screaming as he died. Instead she pressed the navigation controls and exhaustedly plotted in the only place nearby with advanced civilisation.

_Belderone…I have to figure out what to do before Belderone._

She had to decide what to do with the half Sith in less than two days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof.
> 
> These two just need a good vent to each other I think. They both need paper bags and some calming tea, dount they will find those in the outer rim though haha.
> 
> Until next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone I'm still reeling off the final I hope you all survived it :'(   
> I have a big chapter planned next so be patient it will likely take longer to write but things really start kicking off next. I was gutted how these two parted in the final so I'm hoping to remedy that in the next chapter or the following.   
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments, the support means everything. Enjoy!

“Where are you taking us?” Maul’s smooth voice echoed in his room.

“Belderone” Ahsoka replied and closed the door behind her. Her hands trembled as she spoke but she quickly bunched them into fists. She refused to feel the exhaustion aching in her bones, she needs to keep on her toes, she needs to know immediately if someone or anyone was looking for them.

“Belderone” Maul repeated and nodded. “If I recall it is the last planet in the Outer Rim under Republic control… No it’s now former Republic control. You could be making a mistake taking us to a place filled with those mongrels you call Clones.”

“You know maybe it was a mistake letting you sleep and giving you food” Ahsoka snapped. “Your pleasant attitude has just bounced right back.”

Maul snorted and fixed her with a critical look, his eyes slowly looking her up and down. Ahsoka flushed and adjusted herself but otherwise glared right back. “You’ve not been sleeping Lady Tano.”

“I’m fine” Ahsoka growled.

“If you were _fine_ , I think you would’ve denied me a response. You saying something speaks volumes” Maul stood and slowly walked up to her. Ahsoka’s guard quickly snapped up yet she knew he would do nothing. “You are no benefit to me being half dead.”

“I am not here to benefit you!” Ahsoka snarled.

“Yet here we are and we have both helped each other more than you would think, am I wrong?” 

“Don’t test me” Ahsoka said. But in all seriousness, he did bring up a good point. “We will be stopping in Belderone because it’s the only place left this deep in the Outer Rim where credits are still good money…’ She offered her hand expectantly and Maul extended his own to her. She didn’t _have_ to take his hand in hers, but it was just to make sure he didn’t make any sudden moves for the saber. The cuffs beeped and fell off his wrists, yet Ahsoka caught them before they reached the ground. “Go stand back over there” she nodded at the bunk at the far end of the room. Maul rolled his eyes but sauntered back over to his bunk.

Ahsoka quickly left like she was running away from that conversation. _I think I will be leaving you on Belderone._ It made the most sense to go separate ways, and hopefully Sidious will not detect Maul before they reach the planet. It was better than killing him. She collected the same distasteful protein shakes and nutrient bars as before. It had been one more rotation since their conversation about Sidious and she did agree to give him more. _There is no reason to feel guilty, this is the only logical way_. A half Sith and a half Jedi were not made to be partners.

She walked back in more calmly than she left. “Here” she handed him a shake. Only one this time, there was not much left. The half Sith sipped the drink quietly, his eyes down cast as he was lost in thought. _He is still scared_ , she thought, her lips hesitating around the nutrient bar. _Just hides it well when he is not backed into a corner._

“Well” she sighed. “Tell me something.”

Maul grimaced half-way through a sip of the drink. “I am not in the mood for tales of my training or other such things.”

“Well, was there ever a time when you were happy…Or the closest you got to happy?”

_Why am I asking him, it’s not right._

“Happy” Maul said and looked up to the ceiling. “I don’t even understand the concept of happiness. But there was a time when I was content or comfortable with where I was.”

Ahsoka fretted with a nutrient bar, _you can kinda guess that_. “Well” she said, “what happened then?”

Maul sipped at his drink. “I used to hunt Rathtars on Twon Ketee. I would pitch myself against five of them at a time just to test myself. Have you ever fought one before?”

Ahsoka’s lekku flicked with surprise. She knew little of Rathtars other than they were incredibly difficult to kill and regarded one of the most dangerous beasts in the galaxy. She saw a crude drawing once, a monstrous thing with rows of jagged teeth erupting from its mouth, destroying and eating anyone or anything in its path.

“No I have not” Ahsoka cocked her head. “And I never want to. What drove you to fight those things?”

“Boredom.”

“You were so bored that you hunted one of the most dangerous things in the galaxy?”

“Without a lightsaber” he boasted.

“You’re kidding me” Ahsoka stared at him in bewilderment. “What weapon did you use?”

Maul told her about the varieties of weapons he used, the combat styles, the most he went up against. And the more he spoke, the more the fear in his eyes disappeared piece by piece. Never gone, but maybe just taking a back seat for once. “Must have been about fifteen years ago” Maul finished.

Ahsoka nodded when a thought leaped to her mind. _Fifteen years ago I was only seven and yet he was running around killing Rathtars like they are nothing…_ It made her realise something too.

“Back on Mandalore” Ahsoka began. Maul said nothing and threw the scrunched-up pouch to the side. “When we fought. You weren’t really trying, were you?”

“No” Maul said.

Ahsoka scoffed and angrily bit into her bar. He didn’t even have the decency to lie. _If he truly wanted to kill me then-_

“I wanted to work together with you” Maul continued. “I wanted your help to stop Sidious. But you weren’t properly fighting me either.”

“What? Yes I was.”

“No Lady Tano, you were fighting me to subdue me. To capture me which you did successfully” he pointed a scowl at her. “If you were fighting to kill me, and me you, then it would be a completely different fight.”

“But fighting to the death, that’s not what Jedi do, that’s what Sith’s do- “Ahsoka began.

“What?!” Maul cut in and spun to her. “If you believe that Jedi are made on the foundations of pacifists then take a good long look at Mandalorian culture.”

“Maybe before but not now” Ahsoka said.

Maul rolled his eyes spitefully. “You say that just as the galactic civil war, one built from your Jedi’s beliefs, has just ended. You admitted earlier that you were more soldier than peace-keeper so stop believing in those little lies the great Jedi tell you when you were young.”

Ahsoka glared at him angrily. “That conversation was not for you to hear!”

“Well maybe next time you have a chat with your favourite Clone don’t have it in front of other people!” Maul spat.

A lump formed at the back of her throat making the bar hard to swallow. Thinking of Rex was painful and full of doubt, she could never believe he is dead but she could not be sure.

“The point I am trying to make” Maul continued, headless of her fresh grief. “Is that if you were not restrained by fickle beliefs that do not even serve _your_ best interest, then you would be far more powerful than now.”

“To be a Jedi is to not be self-serving!” Ahsoka snarled. “Unlike being a Sith.”

“What is wrong with self-serving?” Maul said. “Is it truly wrong to have your own ambitions, to grow your own power for the sake of it?”

“When it comes with a cost to others then yes, self-serving _is_ wrong.”

“And yet we come full circle back to the Jedi. Their actions were not always in the interest of the people or else there wouldn’t have been all the riots to end the war. There wouldn’t have been calls to break the Jedi’s hold over their growing power.”

“There was flaws with the system, do not try to explain them to me I know too well. But you speak as if selfless and self-serving is the only difference between Jedi and Sith.”

“Are there more differences? I wouldn’t think so but do enlighten me. Bear in mind all we just spoke of.”

Ahsoka lips parted and she frowned into the glowing lanterns watching her from the bunk. The anger that was always there stewed but so to did genuine interest and thought about all they said. _Who would think I would debate philosophies with a half Sith…_

“At least a Jedi can feel joy and be happy in their lives.”

Maul’s brows lowered into a baleful glare. “My life is not the same as others.”

“But I thought we were talking about personal beliefs?” Ahsoka asked with mocking innocence. “Can you truly believe your own philosophy if _your_ life reflects nothing that you speak of? You have ambitions yes, but what betterment of life do you have?”

Maul glared at her but remained silent. 

Sensing that she was stepping into dangerous territory Ahsoka backed off with a sigh. “So you think I could have beaten you if I was trying to kill you?”

“Well no.”

Her patience failed her and Ahsoka snarled at him with barely contained rage.

“What, do you expect me to suddenly believe that I would lose if you changed your goals? That wouldn’t be very _self-serving_ of me would it?”

“Oh fuck you” Ahsoka snapped. She scooped up the cuffs clipped to her waist and then angrily grabbed at Maul’s hands. His eyes just seemed to glow with mockery, and it was all Ahsoka could do to not cuff his throat while those little laughs chuffed away from his mouth. When the cuffs were a little too tight, and the electric links secure she released his hands, failing to ignore the loss of warmth letting go of them brought her.

“Sleep Lady Tano” Maul said as she let go. “Go on and sleep so you have the strength to kill me in the morning.”

“I might just leave you in here to starve” Ahsoka muttered and stepped back.

“Do you really want my Force spirit to haunt you?”

Ahsoka scoffed as she left the room, locking the door in place as it closed. She did feel better after talking to him, like she got back some energy after she had nearly run on empty. He was surprisingly easy to talk to.

Following the protocol, Ahsoka quickly checked over the crucial systems managing the shuttle like she did every hour. It was fine, all of it was fine, yet she needed the routine less she let her guard drop for a second. Not because of Maul. She was comfortable with the locked door and restraining cuffs, but also the strange feeling that even if the opportunity presented itself, he _probably_ wouldn’t hurt her. When she finally checked the navigation panel, she winced when she saw they were mere hours away from Beledrone.

Slumping in the pilot seat, Ahsoka considered her plan. _We need to find an isolated area, somewhere where the Clones cannot detect us. And then he needs to go._ That would hopefully not be hard. _But he has all the money, I doubt he will give me any if I tell him to go away…I could trick him into giving me some before I leave._

 _But he is smart, if I suddenly ask for even a little of what he has he may suspect things_. Though it wasn’t brought up she was sure he was under the impression that the two would work together indefinitely. _Maybe it would be better to discuss it with him now…_

Ahsoka sat and contemplated for a long time. Sometimes she found the strength to get up to go back into his room and explain what she will do, yet she never made it even close to the door. _No, it wouldn’t work. It needs to be done as soon as we touch down._ Just as she thought that, the hyperspace drive disengaged, and the stars turned from the bright streaks of light into their uncountable clusters. Before her was Belderone. Larger than she expected, a hot looking planet covered in a motley of green and orange patterns.

Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka plotted in the coordinates for the un-named citadel and manually chattered the ship towards the southern most point of the planet. As she entered the atmosphere, the shuttle rumbled with turbulence, the heat moderators flaring at the friction between gravity and the slow descent. As she led the shuttle into its slow descent, a dark presence touched her life Force. Jolting, Ahsoka resisted for a moment, before recognising it source. It was dark and hot with the underlying rage and fear that defined Maul’s life Force. It probed at her gently full of unasked questions. Ahsoka shook her head and ignored it. He was unrelenting, his presence so thick she could almost feel it in the room.

Despite that, it took all her concentration to navigate through the dense clouds before breaking free into clear air space. The citadel sprawled out before her, large and unorganised with only a massive building in the centre to stand out, though it was only a tiny blip in the distance from here. Maul’s life Force hammered at her own, the anger behind it growing as she ignored it for longer. Briefly letting her guard drop she answered him for a moment. _I’m landing the shuttle_ , she tried to say through her Force. Maul paused, the dark anger regressing before he too withdrew from her mind.

She moved the shuttle as close to the city she could get without being spotted, gambling that there was no system monitoring what entered the planet’s atmosphere. Around the city was a dense cluster of massive looming trees stretching high into the sky. _Inaccessible, unknown terrain, large cover. Safe..._ Pulling the controls back, Ahsoka carefully levelled out and descended into the nearest clear patch amongst all the trees. Further from the citadel then she wanted but the best she could find. The shuttle landed in the tall grass heavily and with a sigh, she disengaged flight controls and killed the engine. _Now the hard part…_

Standing, she forced confidence onto her face and approached the door. It slid open with a hiss and Ahsoka nearly jumped as Maul was standing outside of it expectantly.

“I thought we would be here later” he snipped.

“Yes well we are here now” Ahsoka said. They stood there in silence and Ahsoka sighed, glancing at her feet before taking Maul’s cuffed hands into her own. He said nothing but rubbed his hands eagerly as the cuffs fell off for the final time.

“Right!” Maul approached the cockpit and with a flurry of motion activated controls. The shuttle’s door began to open slowly with a hiss as the hydraulics found their place on the grass. All the while Ahsoka fingered the dual lightsaber at her hip and slowly unclasped it from her belt.

“If we go into the city separately, we will most likely not be taken notice of, then we have to find a second-hand ship lot. And not stolen! We can’t be here long- “

“Maul” Ahsoka cut in.

“What?” the half Sith turned. His eyes brightened at the sight of his saber in her hands and they flickered between the weapon and then her. Anger brewed slowly and a dark tension charged between the two of them.

“We will not be working together.”

The anger flared like a beacon and he suddenly stepped towards her. “Decided to kill me? Well you should’ve done that _before_ taking the restraints off Lady Tano.”

“No, I’m am not going to kill you” Ahsoka stepped forwards and held out the weapon. It was heavy and ugly for a saber, it never suited her to begin with. It felt like a mistake arming this half Sith. It felt wrong putting such a weapon into his hands, where so many innocents had died. Who know how many more will die because she allowed it to happen. _Master Kenobi said to get rid of him, I see no other way._

“Why?” Maul growled, his lips pulling up into a sneer. “If we work together, we _will_ survive!”

“I don’t think we will” Ahsoka said. Maul growled, betrayal making his eyes blaze with pain. _This is the right thing to do._ The guilt made her think otherwise. “We are both wanted, we are both noticeable people. Being seen together makes it worse. Me having a light saber makes me even more so.”

When Maul said nothing, Ahsoka felt forced to continue.

“A Sith and a Jedi cannot work together.”

“But we are neither, you point that out so frequently.”

She couldn’t help herself but grabbed his hand and forced the saber into it. “This is better than me killing you. I _don’t_ want to do that.” Ahsoka stared deeply into his eyes. _I don’t want you dead, after all you’ve said._

Ahsoka’s hand cupped the back of his even as he curled it into a fist around the saber. They were so warm that Ahsoka couldn’t help but run her thumb over one of his knuckles. Warm, and rough with jagged scars crossing the red and black skin. The contact, the simple feeling of skin on skin made her heart hurt for a moment. Not knowing when she will feel the touch of another for a long time, even if it was _him_. Part of her wish he would drop the saber and hold her hand back. Part of her was terrified he might. The genuine touch seemed to drain the anger out of his eyes softening the hard edges, but the betrayal stayed. _He is just as lost as I am_. Ahsoka opened her mouth, to change her mind. _I don’t have to be alone-_

“Very well Lady Tano” Maul said and pulled his hand and the saber away from her. “Run and run well.”

With that, the half Sith turned and strode off the shuttle leaving her alone in the gloom. _He’s gone..._ She was alone and there was no-one left to think of her. She was alone and there was no one she could turn to. Ahsoka clutched at the hand that held Maul’s conserving the warmth that was left. _I’m sorry,_ she thought.

There was a bond after all. It wasn’t a bond like she shared with Anakin, Rex or Obi-wan. It was strange that she shared it with _him_. It started on Mandalore and it grew stronger on the few rotations they shared on this shuttle. It was still there, in her mind all she had to do was reach out and touch it, speak to him with it. _You could’ve been a different person. I wish you were never sold to Sidious; I wish your family looked for you._ Regret and pain bloomed like a rose with thorns in her chest. _In a different life we could have been friends,_ Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut.

A different life had already begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God damn i feel bad separating these two, but it needs to be done for the plot.  
> I'm trying to fit in more moments between the two, but its difficult because there needs to be a catalyst that spurs their relationship to grow into what I want. (Don't worry it happens very soon...)  
> As i say, there will be friendship before romance but the romance is coming. 
> 
> I JUST WANT THEM TO KISS GODDAMN. OR EVEN HOLD HANDS PROPERLY JESUS


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay just a forewarning, this chapter does get a bit graphic at the end. Like gory graphic but not Stephen King levels. Also this chapter is important so please read all of it. But other than that, enjoy! It's longer than the rest and likely my chapters will get bigger from now on.

The clouds of Belderone did not care about the world below them. They didn’t have to look down to see the world they saturate. There are no oceans on Belderone and hardly any lakes, the clouds claimed all the water just to throw it back onto the ground. They either leaked like water in dark canvas bags, fat and heavy drops splashing into the thick dirt or it belted down in deluges so dense you could hardly see your hand.

Tonight it rained like the later, Ahsoka’s greased cloak doing little to keep the rain from piercing her skin and soaking her clothes. Mandalorian design, there was little to no rain in Mandalore, the tight but thin clothing let the cold bite into her flesh. The cloak’s cowl was deep, casting a shadow over Ahsoka’s bright skin.

Though it didn’t feel deep enough as she stepped through the cities gates.

 _They are everywhere_. Clones. Shining like beacons in their armour, they stood at the gates, on the corner of every road, in the shadows of alleys. And they were quiet.

They are so different from the Clones, no the _men_ that she knew. Quiet, cold, monotonous without a scrap of personality to share between them. She didn’t know if that made it worse or better. _I may have to fight them one day. I may have to kill them._ Rex’s proud face flashed in her mind and then the others. Jesse, Fives, Echo, Cody and so many countless friends she knew. _I wonder if that’s you Jesse,_ she thought as a Clone stood to attention in the shadows of the street. A Clone muttered into his communicator in the distance of an alley, _I wonder if that’s you Cody…_

Ahsoka shook her head. It was no good to think of such things now. Lucky for her they overlooked a dirty and sodden vagabond such as herself creeping quietly into the city walls in the darkness of night.

Some primal animal yowled in the distance, prickling at Ahsoka’s thin skin. It made her shudder and remind her of the weight in the back of her mind. It had only been two days and a night since she and Maul went separate ways. Yet she could still feel him, despite the distance. _He is still in the city._ She didn’t know exactly how she knew, but she knew. He was somewhere in the shadows doing who knows what.

How they parted ways still bothers her. She couldn’t help but feel that she did the wrong thing.

Ahsoka crossed into a dirt packed sidewalk. Clay and brick shops sprouting cloth awnings on all sides to dilute the rain even if a little bit. _It was the right thing to do,_ Ahsoka told herself. She walked quicker, her eyes drilling into the ground at her feet. _We would be noticeable, far more noticeable if we were together._

 _Yet you’re so underprepared so vulnerable like this,_ a voice sounding so much like Anakin’s faux wise voice whispered in her mind. _No money, no information, no lightsabers. You are an ideal target._

 _No longer a Jedi,_ Ahsoka bit her lip angrily. _No longer a real threat._ Yet Ahsoka wanted to be a threat. She wanted to let Palpatine and these new Clones know that there is someone out there who they couldn’t crush under their feet. Let her freedom suffocate them, even for a little bit. 

A heady smell of sweat and liquor made her nostrils twitch. Quickening her step her lekku twitched at the first sounds of raucous laughter and hollering voices. _A tavern. Good._ She had no money, but you didn’t need money to overhear the small snippets of information that drunk lips let fall.

When it came into sight, Ahsoka almost breathed a sigh of relief at the broken squalor of a building before her. No one would question her rough appearance here. Dark gruff men from all species clustered around the outside, even in the rain. Shouting insults or boasts in common and native tongues across to each other. _Good,_ she thought again and quickly stepped out of the rain and past the throngs of men packed in tight around the building.

Ahsoka ignored the angry shouts she got as she pushed past, she also ignored the eyes she could feel on her back, they quickly looked away as some stranger yelled at them from their side. _No one will even notice I’m here._

Heat blasted at Ahsoka as she stepped through the door-less entrance. Woman shouting just as loud as those outside in their clusters or with men leaning tall over them, their sultry gaze suggesting everything. There was a single opening at the bar counter, next to a large Bothan snoring like an engine on the counter and a Rodian idly nursing his drink. Ahsoka’s nose wrinkled at the stink as she sat down. _Hopefully some of this rain on me will gives this seat a well needed wash!_

A human man approached her from behind the bar and nodded expectantly.

“Phattro” she said crisply, knowing she couldn’t pay.

The bar man snorted and turned away to make her drink. Rolling her eyes, Ahsoka glanced around her surroundings. Through the heaving mess of bodies a something clean and bright red caught her eyes at the very back of the tavern. A few people parted just for a second and Ahsoka’s eyes flashed upon a banner. _What is that?_ She thought. Upon the fabric sat a black and white six spoked wheel. The cleanliness and crispness dominated the trashed space. Something uneasy sat in Ahsoka’s stomach. _That’s where the Republic banner should have been._

The bartender came back around and pushed forward a greasy looking glass filled with too much ice and thin yellow liquid. He was about to turn away when Ahsoka leaned forward and tapped his shoulder.

“What?” his harsh voice drawled. “Another drink?”

“No” Ahsoka pointed to the banner behind him. “What is that?”

The man turned and scoffed at the banner hanging on the wall. “Brand new Imperial banner girl.”

“Imperial banner?” Ahsoka felt a chill run down her spine. “What happened to the Republic?”

“Ha’ you been under a rock or somethin’?” the man turned back to her with a scowl. “Fuck’n Republic is gone. New fuck’n government is in place. New Clones, they call themselves Storm Troopers now or some shit-

_Storm Troopers?!_

“-New rules, new _ruler_. Used to be the useless fuck’n senate. Now it’s just this old man that no one ever sees.”

“You see that dark man though” the Rodian beside her piped up. “If you can call that brute a man.”

“Shut up Clasti” the barman snapped. “He’s just a fuck’n propaganda man.”

“Nah I’ve already heard about this bastard’s doings. Carved through those Jedi like Jandri the butcher down the road.”

“It’s propaganda mate!” the bartender snapped. “Fuck’n man like that don’t just appear out o’ the blue!’

“An’ those Jedi don’t just drop bloody dead from a few Clones o’er here!”

Something cold stabbed at Ahsoka’s chest despite the heat in the room. _There is someone else. Who else has done this?!_

“Wait” Ahsoka cut in. “Who is this new guy?”

“Don’t listen to this idiot” the barman scowled. “He believes any shite a joker tells him.”

“Shut up, I pay you for your piss poor beer not your thinkings” Clasti glared at the man.

“I’m just curious. Go on, tell me about him” Ahsoka said quickly.

“This massive beast this one is!” Clasti began eagerly. “You see him all o’er the holotransmitters these last few days. Wears completely black, built like a brick shit house he is- “

“Fuck’n hell Clasti you’re speakin’ to a lady here!” the bartender shouted at the drunk Rodian.

“Doesn’t matter. Go on tell me more!”

“Well!” Clasti turned to her. “Towers o’er everyone he does. You never see his face! He got this helmet or mask or some shit – And I’ve never heard this guy speak. But you do hear him breathin’ yeah you do. Just like this” Clasti cupped his hands over his tubular mouth and breathed in and out deeply. His breath rushed out in a harsh just that seemed to echo in their close proximity.

“He sounds like a cyborg” Ahsoka said. The cold spike in her chest pressed in even deeper, spreading even further through her ribs. Dread set in like a gnawing parasite, a niggly feeling joining the back of her mind.

“That’s not even the best part!” the Rodian shook his head. “Nah this guy…This guy might just be one o’ those Sith lords you hear about.”

The ice spike moved in closer, freezing a point in her spine. The dread grew slowly like the tide. “What?!” Ahsoka said, her voice lost in the cacophony. _No it can’t be Sidious, Palpatine was small and he was whole. He wasn’t a cyborg. There can’t be another one, there cannot!_

“No there can’t be a Sith lord!” she said quickly.

“Well I suppose he could be one of them last Jedis or somethin’. But he’s got this bloody big red light saber an’ you don’t see Jedi running around with those.”

The ice spike pierced through the skin of her back.

“You don’t see any Jedi anymore now” the barman cut in. “Shame that. Always liked hearin’ ‘bout those space wizards” the man shook his head with a sigh. “Fuck’n shame that is.”

“Heard this big bastard’s name is…Vaneer I think it was?” Clasti continued.

“No you drunk idiot” the barman said. “Vader, Vader is the name.”

_Vader…_

“Aight, Aight” Clasti waved his hand down. “Well he didn’t get them all anyways.”

The ice spike stopped moving through her heart. “What…” Ahsoka breathed in deeply. _Calm yourself, be calm._ “What do you mean by that?”

“Eh well I suppose if you haven’ heard about all this then you definitely haven’t heard this bit of news” Clasti said. “About yesterday or the day before, those Storm Troopers or whatever the fuck they call themselves – They found this girl. Little green Twi’lek thing. She was marched right proper through the city in chains, surrounded by those white and shiny Clones out there. Apparently, she is a Padawan or something.”

The ice exploded in her chest, the shrapnel spreading cold and deep all around her body. _A padawan… She is alive! But how…How is she?_

Ahsoka forced down a sip of the drink, wincing at the harsh alcohol used to mix in. Forcing on an air of nonchalance Ahsoka put the drink down. “You just said that they were killing all the Jedi.” The ice dug in deeper. “Why are they keeping this girl around?”

“How are we supposed to know that?” Clasti hiccupped slightly. “Those new Storm Troopers are tight lipped. But if I had to guess…Well she’s a Padawan right? Then there has to be a master out there. My guess is they are questioning her about that other one out there in the bushes.”

Ahsoka sat in silence, the weight of his words pressing down like a weight on her shoulders. _If she is alive then maybe…Just maybe I can help her._

The barman eyed her critically and then spat on the ground. “Don’ worry about that girl. Clones aren’t brutes to children.”

_The Clones I knew weren’t. I don’t know anything about these ones._

“Well where is she now?” Ahsoka asked carefully.

“In that bloody big building dead in the middle of the city. Capital building I’ve heard people call it.”

“Thank you” Ahsoka said to the Rodian. “I’ve definitely…missed out on a lot of the news” she winced.

“Yeah speaking of which, where you from?” the barman asked.

Ahsoka halted, clutching at the glass like a vice. _Lie._

“I’ve been travelling around the outer rim.”

“By yourself?” Clasti leaned forward, closer to her hooded face. “What the fuck are you doing traveling the outer rim one your ownsome? Don’t you know there are pirates. They are a lot fuck’n worse than this here lot”

“Not alone” she said before she could stop herself. “I have a…companion”

Maul’s golden eyes flashed before her own and that little patch of darkness in the back of her mind stirred. Even thinking about him made it wriggle. She could almost reach out at touch it, touch _him._ It was a lie. It was a lie and she did not know what possessed her to say it.

“What the fuck is this friend of yours doin’ lettin’ you come in her’ by yourself” Clasti cackled, booze slopping out of his glass.

“Fuck off Clasti, this is a fine establishment.”

“Fine establishment my arse! Take a look- “

A large and heavy jug went sailing over the air and smashed against the wall right next to the new imperial banner.

“FUCK YOU!” a strangers voice hollered through the tavern and all hell broke loose.

 _Right time to go!_ The barman and Clasti were shouting around the room, screaming expletives and the like that they didn’t notice Ahsoka in her grey, rain-soaked cloak rush out of her seat. She elbowed her way through men and women alike as the tavern turned into a fighting pit with too many potential weapons available. When she finally barged through the open entrance the rain once again hammered her in the face.

Somehow, she managed to make it into an ally that wasn’t patrolled by a clone. It was dark, filled with litter and some foul smell oozed out of the puddles creeping down the road. Ahsoka leaned back against the wall, pressing her hand into her temples.

_There is a girl and she is alive. She is so close maybe I can help her…_

Ahsoka leaned against the wall and just thought. The rain pelted down around her like a thick curtain isolating her from the world except for the one in her mind. This girl that she didn’t even know was more important than Sidious, more important than this new Vader, more important than her fake vagabond identity. _I can help her and that will make a difference. It will make a difference. That’s one less life on Sidious’s tally and one more Jedi that’s alive. It_ will _make all the difference._

If she was to abandon this girl to the Empire, then who was she anymore.

Ahsoka looked up into the sky, surveying her surroundings. The rain and clouds completely covered any light from moons and stars. It is the perfect time to go.

 _You have no plan, no information and no idea of what lies ahead,_ Obi-wan’s voice whispered in the back of her mind.

 _She doesn’t need one. She is all she will ever need,_ Anakin’s voice replied.

“I am all that I will ever need” Ahsoka whispered to herself. She pushed the dread aside for a moment. It had no place here.

With that she turned and walked out of the ally and into the rain sodden street. It was impossible to miss the Capital building. In the distance it’s dark walls were lit up like glowing spots of light. Sticking out like a droid amongst clones in the squalor of Belderone. Ahsoka approached it slowly, carefully. Hunching her back and shoulders to make her seem like a feeble old woman just finding her way home. As she got closer, more and more pairs of Clones began marching down the street. They were so silent; the only noise was the drumming of rain and the tiny wet sounds of Ahsoka stepping through the puddles.

 _A prisoner will be at the lowest level of the building. If I can sneak in there undetected, I will be able to use a more direct route to get her out._ Ahsoka nodded to herself, she was about 150meters from the Capital building.

She took a step closer when two Storm Troopers rounded the corner. Hissing under her breath, Ahsoka quickly hid behind a jutting wall of the nearest building.

“-She hasn’t cracked yet” one of the troopers said.

“She is a weak little thing; I’d say she is going to crack any second.”

“Yeah you’re right, it won’t be long. There is an inquisitor coming tomorrow to interrogate her.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“From the captain. He’s coming because he doesn’t want to risk the other Jedi going off world if we take his Padawan. Then she will be executed.”

“Good.”

Ahsoka’s blood ran cold at the earnest sincerity to the Clones voice. _That is a child! How-_

The troopers walked around the corner and out of sight from Ahsoka’s field of view. They are not the men she knew anymore. Shaking her head she crept low to the ground and walked the perimeter of the complex. There were two groupings of guards. One group in pairs standing stationery around 50 meters away from the building on all sides, and another group also in pairs rotating constantly roughly 10 meters away from the building.

An impeccable defence.

_But there is only one of me in the dark._

“Okay” she whispered and in the shadows she waited. Hours passed and if anything the rain pelted down all the harder. Soon she learned their weakness. It took two minutes for the guards to walk from one side of the building to the beginning of the other. She had to time it just right.

But first she needed an entrance. The front door will not do, the guards there were even denser and heavily armed. So she crept around in the cover of shadows until she reached the south side. There was a large drainage gate.

 _That will lead directly into the lowest part of the building._ Ahsoka nodded. It was time, dawn would be in a matter of hours, it was time to move. The walking guards moved slowly, annoyingly slowly. _Come on come on!_ She hissed under her breath. They stepped past the gate when they were halfway to the other wall, she made her move.

With a flick of her hand she flung a clump of rocks right past the stationery guards and smashed into a wall loudly. Both immediately snapped their heads to the left.

“What was that?” one of them asked loudly. Neither moved like she hoped they would, but both turned completely in the direction of the noise.

_Go._

She slipped into a silent run, her feet patting on the ground but the rain covered all the noise they made. Within a second she was past them. Only having a few seconds, she tugged up the iron gate, praying that it was not locked. The rusted hinges lifted the gate a few inches and then froze.

_Come on, please!_

Clenching her fist, Ahsoka used the Force once more, bending the screws of the hinges until they gave with a muffled crack. The heavy gate nearly fell to the side in her hand. Catching it before it hit the ground, Ahsoka jumped feet first into the deep hole and used the Force to silently move the gate back into place.

Soiled and reeking water splashed up her calves as she landed making her wrinkle her nose in distaste. The fast-flowing current pushing at her feet backwards.

 _But you’re in,_ she thought to herself. A little bit of filth was nothing right now. Taking the corner of her wet cloak, Ahsoka pressed it to her nose and quickly moved through into the gloom and darkness of the sewer.

The dark patch in her mind wriggled uncomfortably and Maul’s golden eyes flashed behind her own once again. _Go away!_ She thought, and the sensation almost reluctantly receded. _What is that?_ She thought as she sloshed forwards. _Why do I have this, no why do I have you in my head?..._ As she walked, Ahsoka tentatively reached out with her subconscious to the dark patch within her. It squirmed again to her touch. _What the fuck is that?!_

She hissed and propelled herself away from the thing residing at the back of her mind. _I wish Obi-wan was here, he would understand. He would know what to do about it._ A half Sith in her mind would bring her no good luck down here.

In the darkness a light glowed from the ceiling above her. A little sliver of a light, like its source was peaking down at her from the edge of a lid. _That must be from the inside._ Ahsoka stopped and ever so gently pushed at the light with her free hand. The ceiling above her moved. Smiling at her luck, Ahsoka stopped and listened in the darkness. Above her footsteps marched on the ground slowly, quiet voices following them with each step. A few more passed but after a handful of minutes she made another gamble. Quickly she lifted the panel above her and jumped through to the top.

She found herself in a pristine white hallway. The brown water around her boots dripped onto the almost illuminated floor. Without hesitating Ahsoka ran. At each corner she peaked around the edge to find most halls barren. _The patrol regulations down here are terrible,_ she thought and rounded a corner, when she detected something.

In the Force, within her subconscious a little light flickered. The first one she has felt in over a week. Immediately, Ahsoka froze and tilted her head. It felt nothing like the dark thing in her mind. This one she couldn’t reach out to like she could with that thing; she could barely feel it. Gently, Ashoka reached out with her subconscious and tried to contact it. Immediately it flared and flickered erratically like a flame about to go out. _She is panicking!_ But she could feel her now even if only vaguely.

The dull flames told her to turn left.

Racing down the hall Ahsoka followed the silent intuition telling her where to go. There seemed to be some luck with her as every corner she turned was either empty of the backs of clones was just leaving the hall. _Left and then straight…Right and then left. Then straight again._

Soon she found leading down into a colder part of the building. _In here,_ the intuition told her. Despite her caution, footsteps echoed down the stairs, tapping against the hard ground.

 _Where are you?_ Ahsoka thought. _You’re close, I can tell._ Soon prison cells came into view blocked with a red electromagnetic screen. She knew she had found her when she saw two guards standing before one.

Without hesitating, Ahsoka rushed towards them, her feet clapping on the ground loudly. Their unfamiliar white helmets snapped towards her immediately.

“Halt!” one of them shouted. “Don’t come any closer!”

Ahsoka ignored them and Clones charged their blasters. _Don’t use the Force,_ her mind whispered. _They cannot know who you are!_

A strange sensation washed over her as the two fired their blasters. Her boys with their helmets painted with _her_ face flashed in her mind. Her boys with their blasters. But these weren’t her boys. Swerving left and right Ahsoka rushed them, and with ease she swept the first off of his feet with swooping kick before flipping forward and striking the second in the throat with two precise blows with her fists. One of the few weaknesses in their armour. The Clones staggered backwards and wretched within his helmet. Ahsoka slammed the blaster out of his hands before grabbing the Clone around the helmet. With ease she slammed the head against the solid wall, once, twice, three times until it cracked down the middle and the Clones slumped to the floor unconscious.

Ahsoka spun around to the first who was scrambling to cock the blaster. Ducking low, she ripped off the helmet from the man at her feet and flung it with all her might into the face of the one before her. He staggered back, dazed from the collision and Ahsoka lunged forward, tackling him to the ground.

“She is just a child!” she screamed as she straddled the Clones. She slammed the back of the clones head into the ground, the impact echoing in the hall. “She is just a little girl!”

The Clone groaned, his voice trembling. Something wet hit his helmet and splattered around the dark visor. At first Ahsoka thought it was the rainwater pooling off her hood, but then a drip travelled down her face and onto her lips. It tasted of salt.

“Dammit” she hissed and slammed her fist into the Clones throat. He went limp in her hands, the blaster falling to the ground by her knees. “Damn you!” she whispered and rose to her feet. “Damn you all!”

Ahsoka pressed her palms into her eyes for a moment, pushing back the tears that welled. _How did it come to this?_ She thought in despair.

Something moved in the back of one of the cells. Jolting, Ahsoka turned and rushed over to the red electric shield. In the back kneeling in the dark was a little Twi’lek girl, her face buried in her knees. Her bright green lekku hanging limply over her shoulders and she didn’t even twitch as Ahsoka approached the red screen.

“Hey” Ahsoka whispered. The girl didn’t move. “Hey, I’m here to help you!”

The girls face tilted upwards and peered at her with dark eyes. “Were you the one I felt before?” she whispered.

“Yes that’s me, I’m here to help!”

“How do I know this is not just a trap?” she asked. “What if this is a ploy to get me to speak?”

“It’s not!” Ahsoka reached out her hand and with the Force she moved the controls that access the red screen. After a few seconds, the button shone green and the screen flickered into nothingness. Quickly she rushed in and touched the young girls hands. They were as cold as frozen blocks and bound in the same restraints as Maul once was. Ahsoka hissed under her breath. _I can’t take these off, not without the right DNA…They will have to stay on until we are out!_

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

“I am Ahsoka Tano” Ahsoka whispered. “I am a Jedi and my Master was Anakin Skywalker. I’m going to get you out of here!”

“Your master was master Skywalker?” hope bloomed in the girls eyes. “I heard of him. My master spoke of him a few times!”

“Yes that’s right” Ahsoka’s heart felt crushed under the weight of her words. _I wish he was here; this would be so much easier…_ “Now, I can’t get these off of you, not yet anyway. But I have a way out, you just have to trust me.”

The little Twi’lek girl nodded and quickly got to her feet. “Show me the way!”

Ahsoka smiled and stood up. “Come with me.”

Ahsoka stood and carefully looked around the corner of the cell, the guards were still knocked out against the ground. _I should kill them…_ But those were once her boys and though she could see the need she couldn’t bring herself to crush the life out of the with the force.

Maul’s laugh echoed in her mind. _“Do not be restrained by your fickle beliefs”_ he had said.

 _Not so fickle,_ Ahsoka thought. _I won’t kill them._

The Padawan gasped as she rounded the corner of the cell.

“It’s okay. They won’t be bothering us for a long time!” Ahsoka took the girl by one of her bound hands. “Let’s go.”

The two moved quickly through the hall and up the stairs, the ground echoing as they slammed their feet into it. _Back through the sewers, the only sure way._ They rounded a corner and were met face to face with two guards.

They took one look at the Padawan behind Ahsoka and then everything was a blur. The first immediately stepped forwards with his blaster aimed point blank at Ahsoka. Hissing Ahsoka snapped the weapon aside and attacked with a flurry of movement when the second one slammed on the communicator on his arm.

“Prisoner escaping!” he yelled. “My coordinates, hallway D-121”

“Shit!” Ahsoka swore and knocked the first to the floor. The walls went red and loud booming alarm screeched across the hall chilling Ahsoka’s blood. Already she could hear the drumming of footsteps getting closer with each second. Leaning low, she scooped up the fallen Storm Troopers blaster and smashed it across the face of the one standing. The trooper grunted and the blaster fired, the blue plasma shot missing Ahsoka’s face by a mere handspan. Ahsoka hit him again and again with the blaster, her teeth bared in fury, until the Clone was collapsed on the ground.

“Come on!” She and the girl ran. She ran and the only indication of where they have to go was the dirty brown pools of water that Ahsoka left in her wake when she sought this Padawan. _It’s close, around this corner and then the other…_

As Ahsoka rounded, she froze in her spot, the little girl colliding with her back. _Oh no_ …   
Twelve armed Clones stood in formation. Five half kneeling on the ground, their blasters cocked and another six-standing tall above them their blasters levelled with her face.

“I can’t but you can!” the girl whispered. “Use the Force! Sweep them aside!”

 _I can’t…_ Ahsoka thought. _They will know who I am, and then we will be both dead._

“I’ve already taken down four of your men!” Ahsoka shouted at the men. “Come on and try it!” She lowered herself into the fighting stance and waited. _Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, don’t shoot,_ she silently begged. Then she would have no choice at all.

“Surrender!” the leader shouted. “Drop to the floor or we _will_ kill the girl!”

“Try killing me first!” Ahsoka shouted and then she attacked. Kicking herself off the ground, the half Jedi jumped to the ceiling and pushed herself like a comet towards the twelve Clones before her. Four went down to the ground as she collided with them in a flurry of limbs and shouts. It was mania. Ahsoka knew what would happen to her as she landed, too close for blaster fire, but eight against one in hand to hand combat is not favourable. Hands became a blur and Ahsoka did all she could to evade their blows, but often it wasn’t enough.

A fist slammed into her kidney twice as she knocked out one, leaving her gasping as she swerved under an elbow missing her face by inches. A boot slammed into the joint of her knee bringing her down as she swept two off their feet and onto the ground. But she refused to yield. Flipping up, Ahsoka brought her own boots down in an echoing blow as she landed on the armoured faces of the Clones. _Five left!_ She thought and hooked a punch into the exposed throat of another. _Four!_

She could win this.

“LAY DOWN OR SHE WILL BE SHOT!” A voice screamed.

Ahsoka froze, and so did the remaining guards in their brawl. She spun to the voice and her heart dropped to her feet. _No…_

Twenty Storm Troopers flanked each end of the hallway, and around the little Padawan, brought to her knees was five Clones with their blasters pointed to her head.

“I SAID LAY DOWN!”

“Ahsoka- “the young Padawan begged, tears in her eyes. A clones slammed the butt of his blaster onto the nape of her neck. She yelped and collapsed to the floor, her bound and trembling wrists barely holding her up. Blood trickled down and across her shoulder.

“OKAY!” Ahsoka shouted. “Okay, just don’t hurt her!”

Ahsoka immediately collapsed to her knees her hands clasped behind her head. “I yield, I yield!”

“Ahsoka, use it. Please use it!” the girl whispered to the floor.

“IF YOU KEEP TALKING YOU WILL DIE HERE!” A Clone with a dark grey shoulder pads shouted at the girl. A captain.

 _I can’t, I can’t because they will kill us both!_ Ahsoka thought desperately. _We will both be captured and put in cells. We can escape from there-_

“Who are you!” the captain demanded.

“A friend, I’m just a friend” Ahsoka said. “This isn’t right, she is just a little girl”

 _I’m sorry, I’m sorry!_ She thought. _But they cannot know who I am…_

The captain studied her for a moment, the dark visor glinting in the flashing red lights as he calculated the Togruta before him. “You know her?” he asked calmly.

“Yes!” Ahsoka growled, baring her teeth to the Clone before her.

The Clone looked at her for a second longer and then he turned and fired the blaster point blank into the Padawan’s head. Blood splattered everywhere as part of the girl’s head caved in, half of her face exploding into a mess on the floor.

Ahsoka screamed. She screamed as the hot blood splashed across her lips, she screamed as another of her kind, another Jedi was murdered before her eyes. A blaster came down and slammed against the back of her neck, just like the girl, and she collapsed to the ground.

The whole half of the girls face stared at her, her large brown eyes wide and glazed over, her lips parted in shock. A whining croak echoed through the hall, escaping from Ahsoka’s lips. _No…no…_

“Captain?” a Clone approached. “Why did you do that?”

“This one knows the girl. It’s likely this runt’s master sent her like a fucking coward!” the captain kicked at the feet of the dead girl. “She could tell us more then this one could. Likely knows where the Jedi is now. Besides, the inquisitor is coming.”

 _No, no!_ Ahsoka struggled to stand up. _No-_

“Detain her!” the captain shouted and fiddled with his blaster before leveling it at her.

The bright blue bolt erupted from the nozzle, slamming into her chest in a coat of terrible electricity. Pain flooded her, the shock ripping into every nerve in her body in waves for what felt like hours but was only seconds. Cringing into a ball Ahsoka was flattened under the boots of the soldiers that slammed into every inch of her body. 

_I failed, I failed. How could I fail?_

She vaguely felt hands haul her to knees and just as her eyes began to close, she watched the captain step over the corpse of the little girl with the restraining cuffs in hand. _Get up, you’re a Jedi get up and save her, it’s not too late!_

But it was.

The dark thing in her mind stirred and writhed like a beast in agony. Her eyes closed, but behind them she saw two bright golden ones rimmed with red stare back at her. The cuffs went on, the last thing she felt before her consciousness abandoned her.

 _Please…_ she begged the eyes and with her last strength she reached out and grasped the wriggling dark thing in her mind. _Please help me._

The eyes blinked, understanding and knowing. Her thoughts echoing around the two of them, for _he_ could hear her now.

 _“Very well,”_ Maul’s voice echoed back at her. _“I will come for you again Lady Tano.”_

The last thing she saw before all turned to black was his golden eyes watching over her like beacons from above.

 _You were all you ever needed,_ Anakin’s voice whispered. _But sometimes it isn’t enough._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Things aren't going right for Lady Tano. I just want to say I am not undermining her strength at all, but she doesn't have light sabers and if she used the Force its a guaranteed death sentence because it exposes who she is. Also the fact that she hasn't been sleeping right plays a huge part because she wasn't prepared at all for a rescue mission. She is just like good old Anakin Skywalker, she has to rush in. So yeah, please don't think I'm undermining her but she does have a habit of getting captured by people as the Clone Wars likes to show us.
> 
> But thank you so much for all the comments and support, I'm sorry I haven't replied to everyone's but I've been super busy but rest assured that I've read all of them and they left me grinning from ear to ear :)
> 
> Next time, Maul's back in the picture,so more Maulsoka and bonding haha. (See I told you they wouldn't be separated long haha)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers here it is! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was really fun to write. God that Maulway scene in season seven was great inspiration for this. (Though action scene aren't my forte, but I think I did good)

“Do we know who she is?”

“No. She’s tougher then that other one. Hasn’t said a single word beyond threats before she was knocked out…”

Ahsoka groaned but no noise came out, the empty breath rattling around her throat. The words filtered in slowly making her lekku twitch against her aching body feeling like it had been trampled by a thousand boots. She tried to wriggle her fingers and a couple of them flexed slowly. Maybe less than a thousand. A blueish light filtered through her eye lids and wearily Ahsoka tried to open them. Her skin ached and her eyes felt almost gummed closed but slowly they opened a fraction.

_Where…Am I?_

The half Jedi could look no further than the floor but she could see her own feet suspended above the ground by a blue electric beam of light. _Separatist restraints…_ the thought crossed her mind for a single second. _Why separatists…_

“She is set up in there now. It won’t be long before the Inquisitor is here, less than two hours I bet” the first one said.

“Never seen an Inquisitor before” the second replied. “Heard they are real nasty.”

_An Inquisitor?_

Something flashed before her eyes. A girl on the floor. Blood. Lot’s of blood. Another flash, another scene. Herself thrown to the floor, the girl’s one eye staring back. Half of her face sprayed blood to the ceiling. The other half mouthed a word voicelessly.

_“Please!”_

“AHH” Ahsoka suddenly screamed, her voice now returning to rip through her throat. Her head jolted upwards and her neck writhed in agony as her mangled tendons and muscles moved before collapsing back towards the ground. _The girl! No, no, no the girl-_

“Sounds like she is awake.” A faint whooshing sound whispered in the cell and two Storm Troopers strolled into the room.

_She’s dead. I could have saved her-_

“She looks rough. I don’t know much about Inquisitors, but I’d say she won’t survive him long.”

“Ah, I don’t know about that. She’s a Togruta, they are pretty resilient things.”

“You sure about that?” the first said. Ahsoka blinked and the girl’s one brown eye was looking at her.

_No!_

she blinked again desperately and the brown was replaced by two golden bloodshot ones.

_“Close”_ the eyes said.

_“Close…”_ Ahsoka thought back. The golden eyes blinked and they were gone.

“Hey!” a hand grabbed Ahsoka by the jaw and forced her face up. A pained hiss escaped through her teeth as her neck and shoulders flared in pain. A plain Storm Trooper’s mask looked back at her. “Save yourself some pain girl. Tell us all you know now.”

Ahsoka glared into the masked yet dispassionate face before her. “No!” she whispered. The fingers dug deeper into her jaw.

“You will regret that decision.”

“You will regret it” Ahsoka muttered. _I can’t kill you, but Maul can._ Ahsoka could feel him getting closer, the dark thing in her mind told her so.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” the Storm Trooper jostled her face making Ahsoka grit her teeth in pain. Ahsoka spat at his feet the red tinged spit splattering against his boots.

“Why you little- “the Clone made a grab for his blaster but the second one grabbed his wrist before he could draw it from his holster.

“Come on. Leave her to the Inquisitor” the second Clone said.

The one holding her face stared at her for a second more and Ahsoka’s lip pulled up in a bloody red sneer. His fingers giving a final squeeze before letting go. “Hm, you might be right. She has some spirit. It won’t do her any good though.”

The boots echoed through the cell as they left and then the electromagnetic screen appeared with a quiet hiss. Ahsoka’s face sagged to the ground again. The images came back, piece by piece fitting together like a deranged puzzle.

_I failed. And the cruellest bit was I gave her hope._ Ahsoka winced and closed her eyes _. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry._

For the first time in many rotations, Ahsoka reached out to the void of the Force. It was barren and so cold, where once thousands of tiny flames scattered around it like stars, only to become a realm of darkness before her. Tentatively, she searched for Sidious, her mind drifting around like a hand in the dark seeking his own. Not to grasp, but to just know he was there. She drifted for a long time but felt nothing. _He’s not here…_

Ahsoka breathed slowly and relaxed as much as she cold into the void. “I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. For I am one with the Force” she whispered. She repeated the mantra over and over allowing the void to swallow her whole.

_Be at peace,_ she thought. The young girls face full of hope drifted before her into the abyss, and then Anakin’s then Master Plo-Koon’s then Master Yoda. _I’m sorry. All of you I am sorry._ The faces off all those who passed drifted before her to be swallowed. Something fell from her face, bringing her back to the real world. It passed over her lip and she tasted salt. _Tears…I hardly used to cry before._ The void stayed in her heart, in a silent meditation. It soaked away the pain if even for a small amount of time.

The comms chimed on the Storm Trooper’s arms and Ahsoka heard both active them and lift them to their faces. A voice echoed around the hall.

“There is suspicious activity there may be another intruder- “

The comms went dead in a harsh crackle.

“What the hell was that?” one asked.

“Does this one have back up?” the second asked. Immediately the blasters were removed from their clips and a crackle vibrated through the room as they charged them.

“This is Belderone, I doubt there is anyone who- “

The lights snapped off suddenly and a chill went up Ahsoka’s spine. A red light flashed before fading only to flash again and a booming siren echoed through the whole building. The void was shattered around Ahsoka, the pain greedily biting deep into her again. Wincing, she looked all around her, but could only see the red light flashing intermediately along the walls and ceilings.

The comms chimed again. “Troopers!” a voice shouted, screams of pain echoing around him and a tell tale sign of a lightsaber swishing through the air. “Kill the pri- “ his voice was cut out with a harsh scream of pain. And then the comm went dead.

“Shit!” one swore. The red electric screen above her winked out and the two Clones rushed towards the suspended Togruta. Ahsoka lifted her head slightly as a blaster was levelled with her face.

She grabbed the dark thing inside her mind and immediately the two golden lanterns of eyes blinked before her. _“Hurry!”_ she thought and then let go of it.

“What are you doing?!” the other Clone demanded to the one holding his blaster so close to her face.

“What does it look like!” the one holding the blaster shouted. “We were ordered to kill the prisoner!”

“But that wasn’t the captain!” the Clone grabbed the barrel of the blaster and yanked it down. “I’m not going to disciplinary action if we make the wrong choice!”

“And I would rather not- “

The doors at the top of the stairs opened with a bang, debris of metal and some Clones alike exploding down the hallway. “Fall back!” a Clone shouted. Something heavy and made of metal stamped down the hallway slowly, and another ominous red glow began to fill the room.

A Storm Trooper sprinted down and past the cell where the guards stood with their blasters drawn. “CLOSE THE HALL-“ a large dual red light saber spun through the air and impaled itself into the Clones helmet through a wall. He collapsed like a puppet, suspended in above the ground as the saber sizzled.

A Trooper in Ahsoka’s cell smashed his communicator alive. “Reinforcements to the cell block!”

“Why? Do you want more of your brothers to die?” a smooth voice echoed around the hall. The heavy footsteps boomed closer and then Maul rounded the corner. His furious eyes immediately set upon Ahsoka, suspended by her arms above the ground. She gazed back at him and almost hated the pang of relief she felt as she saw him.

Blasters fired in a hail of blue plasma shots, but all were waved aside with a mere flick of Maul’s wrists. Maul looked at the two troopers and smirked. His hands reached out and curled into two merciless fists. Ahsoka watched with wide eyes as the troopers coughed and retched into their helmets. Their hands failing desperately at their throats as the life was choked out of them.

“Not very original are they?” Maul sighed and tightened his fists. The Clones shrieked as their necks snapped, their faces twisting in mangled angles towards Ahsoka. Maul whipped his hands back and the two were thrown behind him and into the free blade of the saber still holding the other Clone against the wall. Their bodies sizzled like two pieces of meat on the fire.

Ahsoka could only stare at the blatant brutality and even winced as Maul summoned his light saber back to his side. The bodies hit the floor in a clatter, their limp limbs tangled amongst themselves. He stepped towards her quietly and said nothing but looked at her.

“Well?” Ahsoka muttered. “Let me down.”

“Ah Lady Tano, what have they done to you?” Maul stepped forwards and jostled the restraints around her spread arms. Her shoulders shrieked with pain yet Ahsoka bit her split lip rather than cry out.

“Doesn’t matter” Ahsoka growled between her teeth.

“It would seem it does” Maul said and his golden eyes snapped towards hers again. “I would like to remind you of what was said before we parted ways. What was it? ‘We are both wanted. We are both noticeable people.’” He quoted her. “Doesn’t look like you tried to be unnoticeable, does it?”

The girl’s face flashed in her eyes again. Ahsoka shook her head violently forcing the image away.

“Tell me. What would you do if I was in this situation? Would you come to save me?” Maul asked.

_What?_ Ahsoka peeled open her eyes stared at him incredulously but couldn’t find it in herself to answer.

“Well?”

“I…I don’t know. I think I would” Ahsoka mumbled. “One less person for Sidious to hurt…”

One small victory over him.

Maul blinked and some of the anger faded from his eyes. “Very well then” he flicked his wrist and one of the many corpses dragged itself into the cell. With the other he ignited the saber and sliced through the dead Clone’s hand neatly. He summoned it to his hand and quickly threw off the armoured glove, revealing a whole and tanned Clones hand.

“Wait…It was the captain that put these on me.”

“They all have the same DNA” Maul said and pressed the hand into the groove of the cuffs. They flashed green and Ahsoka collapsed to the ground crying out in pain as her body fit the ground heavily. Her shoulders ached from holding her body aloft for so long. Everything else hurt more.

Maul crouched before her, and his gloved hand gently tilted her face towards him. “I will need reassurances” he said. As he spoke, footsteps hammered on the ground and eight Storm Troopers rushed around towards the ground. Maul threw his ignited saber into the air and it spun like a flaming red wheel, deflecting every shot right back into the Clones faces. Ahsoka’s eyes widened at the display. The Storm Troopers shouted as their comrades dropped one by one, but their anger made them relentless.

“What do you mean?!” Ahsoka gasped, her eyes still locked onto the troopers. “We don’t have time for this!”

“We are not leaving until you answer me! If I take you from here, we will work together. This is _not_ up for debate. If you refuse, I will leave you here” Maul flicked his wrist and the saber speared itself through every Clone, skewering them against the walls or the floor, their screams of pain echoing through the hallway until all of them were dead. The saber drifted back into his hand gently and the red beams disappeared.

“Even if that means Sidious wins again?”

Maul hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “If it means that I don’t lose. Not again, no more…If it means that then yes, I will leave without you.”

_It felt like a mistake parting ways, and now with this…thing in my head_. Ahsoka paused and then nodded. _The Force tells me to do this, and I must trust the Force._ “Yes. I will work with you.” Her words caused her heart to drop to her stomach. She couldn’t help but feel she made a deal with a devil.

“Good” Maul stood quickly and looked at her from above, the flashing red lights in the darkness making him almost disappear if it weren’t for his golden eyes. “Can you stand?”

Ahsoka placed her hand on the ground and tried with all her power to push herself up. Her ribs flared in terrible pain, causing her to cry out and collapse in a heap once more. Immediately Maul was once again crouching next to her.

“They were not kind to you” Maul said. Ahsoka’s eyes widened as his long arms wrapped under his knees and around her shoulders.

“Ah” Ahsoka groaned as Maul picked her up. She sat rigidly, her body refusing to relax after hours of the interrogation, let alone the fact she her face was pressed right up against Maul’s neck. He smelled like iron and blood. 

“I will drag you by your lekku if you don’t relax!” he said sharply. “I can’t use my saber like this!”

“How do you plan to use it with me like this?” she whispered, but still she forced her body to relax as much as she could. Her ribs flared with pain causing her to whimper and her whole body ached all the more.

Maul grunted in response and quickly snatched the saber from his waist and ignited the deadly things. He threw it in front of himself where it hovered idly, waiting for its next victim.

“Oh” Ahsoka said. The hallway still flashed with red and then darkness making her eyes ache too. Reluctantly she closed them and resigned herself to constant darkness, pretending it was someone- anyone else holding her like this. Maul’s footsteps echoed on the floor as he walked, the lightsaber humming in front of him ominously.

“A great deal of the Clones are dead” Maul said as he stepped over their corpses. “I would like to know _why_ I had to kill them.”

_The Padawan…It was for the Padawan._

“Not now” she whispered. His neck shifted and Ahsoka could practically feel his sneer as he looked down at her.

“It better have been for a good reason!” he growled.

Ahsoka nodded but couldn’t bring herself to say anything else. _It wasn’t because I failed!_ Tears budded in her eyes and dripped onto Maul’s neck. If he felt them he didn’t say anything. He walked in silence, but the pain and exhaustion soaked into Ahsoka’s bones that she couldn’t control. Her tears fell more and more making her body tremble.

“M-Maul?” she whispered.

“What is it?” he said, ignoring her grief.

“Do you feel it?” Maul paused mid step and waited as the sirens blared all around him. He said nothing. Ahsoka bunched her hand into the thin fabric of his shirt, biting her lip until the wound re-opened and she tasted blood. “Do you feel it…Me. In the back of your mind?”

Maul was silent and then he began his almost leisurely walk again, over the corpses that Ahsoka refused to see. “…Yes” he eventually said. His arms adjusted themselves and held her closer if anything. Ahsoka found she didn’t care and left her hand bunched into his chest. He felt so warm.

His hearts beat against her fist like a drum just like her own and the warmth seeped from him into her. _“Yes”_ his words echoed around her mind like a chime bringing her comfort. _Good,_ she thought. _Good…_

The world slipped away as Ahsoka fell into unconsciousness, the warmth and the drumming hearts of Maul easing her into that oblivion. Her eyes would only flicker open briefly when she heard screams of pain or felt Maul’s arm twitch as he used the Force. She would blink at the corpses she saw over his shoulder when he stepped through them, and when her heart felt anguish for them, she remembered the little girl. She bunched her hand into his chest again and would force her eyes shut, until she drifted off again.

Eventually the slaughter ended, for there was no one else left alive who dared to confront the dangerous half Sith. She sub-consciously felt him lower himself and pick up things from the ground, though she didn’t bother to open her eyes to see. She also noticed as he adjusted his hold on her and threw some soft and heavy fabric over his shoulders and head. _A cloak,_ she thought dully as the fabric was pulled over her head and most of her body. In her half sleep she relaxed as he stepped out into the rain, the drops drumming against the fabric of her face.

_I’m safe_ , she thought. _I shouldn’t feel safe, not with you._ His hearts beat against her hand like a reminder but for what she couldn’t tell. _But I do…What is safety anymore. It’s nothing, let me have it while it lasts._ It was all that was needed to pull her away from the world around her and into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

Slowly, a soft sweet smell drifted around Ahsoka’s nose. It smelled like long grass, wildflowers and animals. When she opened her eyes, warm sunlight greeted her through the sifting movements of branches and leaves dancing to the wind. _Oh,_ she thought and sat up carefully. Her whole body moved painlessly, easily like she had just woken from a long sleep. The trees around her, white and pearlescent glinted in the afternoon sunlight. They were so beautiful and unlike anything she ever saw.

The grass was even softer under her bare feet, and so pliable it almost bounced with each step. Ahsoka moved through the trees, her hands running down their smooth trunks until they opened up on to a cliff viewing the world from high above. Her lips parted in appreciation of the splendour before her, as a cool river snaked through the valley below guarded by colourful trees and plants.

_This is wonderful…But where am I?_

“Hey Snips.”

Ahsoka turned to her left and her heart drummed in her chest as she saw Anakin, sitting on a large rock and smiling at her like everything was okay in the world. “Hey Skyguy” she said hoarsely and walked over to him. Her body shook as she sat down next to him and she grasped her hands tightly to hide it. “Where are we?”

“Naboo” Anakin said and leaned back with a smile. “Well I think it is. Looks like it.”

“You’ve been here longer than me. How do you not truly know where we are.”

“Who says I’ve been here longer?” Anakin said. He looked out over the cliff not waiting for an answer and slowly his smile faded. “I wish you didn’t go to Mandalore; I wish you stayed with me.”

Ahsoka’s skin went cold. “You know I had to.”

“You didn’t have to do anything. You didn’t have to involve yourself. You could have come back…Come back to me” Anakin’s face pulled down into a frown.

“Anakin…” Ahsoka began and reached out to him but froze as her master leaned away. Ahsoka sat back and looked down at the ravine below her. “Would anything have changed if I stayed?”

“Yes!” Anakin growled.

“You see…I wish, I wish so badly that you’re right. But I don’t know if it would” Ahsoka bit her lip as the truth came crashing down around him.

“Ha” his laugh was fake and full of pain as it pierced her ears like glass. “You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about what happened.”

“Then tell me!” Ahsoka pleaded and turned to face Anakin fully. “Why did you do those things?! They were just children Anakin! And Padme-”

“Don’t!” Anakin pointed a finger into her face. “Don’t you dare say that name!”

“I don’t know what happened master. So tell me why!” Ahsoka hissed.

Anakin stood up suddenly and paced the cliff face with his fists clenching at his sides. “They were all against me. ALL OF THEM!” he shouted. “They- the Jedi council and _Obi-wan_! They were bringing the people to their knees! There would be no freedom under their laws! No true justice- “

“And murdering children was a form of justice?!” Ahsoka stood too. “There _is_ no justice in that!”

“Neither is being one of _them!_ ” he hissed. “They would have never known love! Or-or happiness! It would all be stripped away from them due to our duty- No _their_ duty as soldiers for a war we never asked for!”

“We both walked into that war willingly Anakin!”

“No we didn’t! Can’t you see that every choice we made, every action we took was under the hand of the _council!_ The people sued for peace and we ignored them for the idea of _honour_ of all things!”

“And you’re saying that your actions are honourable?!” Ahsoka choked out, her fists trembling at her sides.

“NO” he shouted and turned to the cliff, away from her. “Nothing I have ever done has been that. Not for me, but for _them!_ ”

“You don’t know what you’re saying…” Ahsoka said. “You could have left, you could have followed me- “

“And where would that lead me?” Anakin growled out over the cliff. “Powerless. I would be powerless!”

“Only a Sith thinks like that” Ahsoka shook her head and let her hands fall limp to her sides. _Obi-wan was right..._ “You’re lost to me Anakin” she said softly. “Who are you anymore?”

Anakin slowly turned and Ahsoka’s mouth dropped in horror at the merciless yellow eyes that turned at pierced her with such _hate_ and pain. Ahsoka collapsed to her knees, powerless before his wrath.

“I AM JUSTICE!” he roared and the beautiful world around her went dark.

Ahsoka lashed out and sat up with a scream, her lip splitting again in terrible pain. _No, no! Anakin-_ A large hand came out of nowhere and gripped her shoulder forcing her back down.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Maul hissed. “Do you want those Clones to find us?!”

“Anakin, I saw-“

“He is dead girl!” Maul said. “You told me yourself that he is dead!”

Ahsoka closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her aching cold body. _He felt so real…_

Maul sighed and lowered himself to the ground next to her. His presence reminded Ahsoka of how he picked her up, the way her fist was pressed against his chest. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at him, facing the man that saved her at such a great cost. His golden eyes met hers and they were so similar to Anakin’s yet also so different.

“I…” Ahsoka began. Maul watched her in the shadows, waiting indifferently. “Thank you. For helping me.”

Maul snorted but said nothing so Ahsoka looked around, ignoring his annoyance. _I said my thanks, he can’t ask more than that_. Wherever they are, it was under the dense tree cover beyond the city. They sat under the eves of the massive forest the thick and massive leaves protecting them from the rain that still hammered at the world. A fire crackled to her left, and to her right a dull grey Neimoidian shuttle hid in the darkness.

“You already got a ship?” she asked.

“Yes” Maul said and reached behind him, pulling out medical supplies and bandages. “I was about to leave when you…Contacted me.” Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the strange unnamed bond they shared. She said nothing about it, and neither did Maul, who unwound bandages slowly. “Whatever those Clones wanted from you they were determined to get it.”

“What do you mean?” Ahsoka sighed and winced as her ribs flared in pain.

“From what I can tell, you have five broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and multiple blunt force traumas to your upper body and legs. Now _obviously,_ I didn’t want to tend to them until you were awake.”

“I will be handling myself Maul!” Ahsoka snapped.

“Oh yes, do try it may be very entertaining” Maul scowled at her. When Ahsoka made no move for the medical equipment he dropped them in front of her. “Well, go on!”

Ahsoka scowled and leaned forward to pick up the supplies but as her ribs moved a terrible pain shocked her to the core. Yelping she sat back up and wrapped her good arm around her torso trying to desperately muffle the pain.

Maul sighed and picked up the supplies again. “Do I have your _permission_ to tend your wounds?”

Ahsoka cringed at the pain but felt somewhat better as she managed a scowl and looked to the side. “Fine…” she growled between her teeth. Maul removed his gloves, revealing the red and black tattooed hands to her. His fingers were longer and more graceful looking then she thought.

“Tell me why you were a prisoner” Maul said and gently probed the muscles around her shoulders. His hands seemed to be fire on her cold skin but she refused to relax.

“It doesn’t matter” she bit out.

“You’re a fool if you think it doesn’t!” Maul growled. “If they know who you are then we will be hunted throughout the galaxy.”

“Like we aren’t already!” Ahsoka said. “But no…They never got my name or know that I was once a Jedi.” _At least I did that right…_ Maul grunted and quickly shoved her shoulder into place, her tendons and bones making a popping noise as they were shoved back together. “Fuck!” Ahsoka swore and bunched her knuckles into fists.

“Now why were you there?” Maul asked. His hand took Ahsoka’s forearm, not ungently and began to wrap linen around it and across her shoulder into a makeshift sling. Ahsoka’s eyes stung from the pain and took a moment to compose herself.

“There was a girl. A Padawan. They were going to kill her and I- “Ahsoka cut herself off, the young ones hopeful brown eyes shone at her from her memories. “She’s dead.”

When Maul said nothing Ahsoka turned her head towards him, angry words ready to fall from her split lips until she saw his expression. No anger or amusement, but something grim and thoughtful that looked right back at her. “What?” she growled. “Nothing to say?!”

“I cannot say I’m surprised Lady Tano. But you should follow your own advice before saying it to others.”

“How could I live with myself if I did nothing to help?!” Ahsoka said, her anger sharping her words like a crude weapon.

“You would be alive, if anything. And that is more useful than the alternative” Maul looked deeply into her eyes. “I know enough about inquisitors to know you do not want to meet them.” Maul looked pointedly at her ribs. “Let me look at those too.”

Ahsoka bunched her fist into the shaggy grass beneath her and looked away. What he said was better than a lecture that Obi-wan would give her, but there wasn’t any comfort in his words. _I would be dead if you didn’t come,_ she thought. “Fine” she muttered.

Maul’s hand touched the hem of her shirt and gently pulled it up. Ahsoka’s cheeks flushed and she hoped he wouldn’t see in the low light, but it didn’t seem to matter as only most of her stomach and lower ribs were revealed. She couldn’t help but wince at the massive ink like wound that stretched over most of her flesh, even Maul made a low grunt at the sight of it. He fished a dark grey container from the ground in front of him and offered it to her.

“Here, it’s numbing cream.”

Ahsoka took it, grateful that he had it and that she will put it on herself. She popped the lid open and dipped her fingers into the white and sticky cream, trying not to wince as she gently rubbed it over her ribs and stomach. The cold cream seeped into her skin and almost immediately the pain began to numb itself. When she put the container down and moved her free arm to the side, Maul began to stretch out the bandages.

“Is there anything you learned or overheard while in the prison?” he asked.

“No” Ahsoka said but then something rang like a bell in her mind. “Wait…I heard rumours about a Sith lord.” _A cyborg._

“We already know about Sidious” Maul said. Ahsoka tried not to cringe as Maul leaned forward and began to wrap the bandages tightly across her ribs, his face only a few inches from her own.

“Not Sidious” Ahsoka bit out as Mauls arms passed around her, a near embrace. “A cyborg, a man that helped cut down the Jedi” her lips pulled back into a snarl of rage. “His name is Vader.”

Maul froze for a second, his golden eyes going wide with fear and rage. “Vader!” he snapped. “Are you absolutely sure his name was Vader?!” 

“Yes” Ahsoka said. “But I don’t know how reliable the information was.”

“Did a fucking Clone say that?!”

“No, it was some drunk Rodian at a bar” Ahsoka said. Maul was still frozen, his arms half looped around her broken body. “Well, can you finish this up?” she demanded.

The half Sith blinked with a shake of his head and immediately continued binding the fabric around her. “If this is true then we can’t be in Imperial territory any longer.”

“Why?” She hissed in pain as he tied the bandaged in a brutally efficient knot, securing her ribs in place. “We already knew that, why does this change anything?”

“Because I heard that name in my vision” Maul growled and tugged back down Ahsoka’s shirt. Ice shot down her spine and she rounded on him, not caring about the small space between them.

“I thought your _vision_ ” she spat the word. “Was all about Anakin!”

“It was!” Maul snarled.

“Well he is gone okay! This man is not him, he cannot be him!” Ahsoka’s fists trembled as a wave of grief welled up in her once more. “It can’t because he’s dead!”

“And everyone thought I was dead Lady Tano” Maul whispered. “Look where I am now!”

_No, no!_ Ahsoka couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her face. _A Jedi doesn’t have attachments, a Jedi controls their emotions!_ That did nothing to stop the waves of pain and grief burning through her chest and down her eyes. “He is gone Maul. I know it! I can’t feel him in the Force anymore!”

Maul watched the tears fall from her face, one by one, studying the vulnerability, appreciating the anger burning in her eyes. “No all who are lost are truly gone.” He shrugged off the cloak from around his shoulders, leaving him in the dark tunic and wide belt. Ahsoka nearly jumped as he draped it over her, the warm folds clinging to her icy skin. “The Force isn’t always your ally.” As he spoke he placed a thin grey light saber into her hands. Ahsoka gaped at it for a second and immediately looked back at him.

“This was on the Captain’s possession before I cut him down. I’d say it was your little Padawan’s saber.” Maul stood and looked down at her from above. “We leave in an hour.” With that he turned and approached the new shuttle, disappearing from sight.

The tears fell down her face, refusing to stop despite her desperate wishes. Slowly, she raised the saber and ignited it in front of her. A bright blue beam of light shone before her, a small beacon in the dark. A sob escaped her throat before she could stop it making her fast twist in pain. _I’m sorry…_ She thought. _I’m so sorry._

The cloak was warm and thick as Ahsoka lay down cradling the weapon to her chest. She pressed the cowl deep into her face, the fabric soaking up her tears. It smelled of iron, grass and something else that she couldn’t name. It smelled like Maul. The dark thing in the back of her mind twitched but she ignored it. For some reason she wished he didn’t leave her side, she wished she had him to focus her anger on, her grief. But part of her was grateful for his indifferent actions. He may not have meant it. The cloak could be to stave off the cold that tried to claim her body. The saber could be to defend herself in the future.

But it felt like comfort. The most she had been given in a long time. Her tears fell with the rain and didn’t stop even when Maul roused her and carried her onto the shuttle. She didn’t struggle that time. And he never asked for the cloak back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets add some spice lets add some Maulsoka hurt/comfort even if it was indirect from Maul. Thank you for all the comments, you are all great. Be back with chapter 7 soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys here is the new chapter! I'm sorry for the wait but I've had a lot of uni work on my plate so it was hard finding time to write this. Also, I am blown away by the amount of comments I received on the last chapter! I know I only responded to less than half but I'm so grateful for any comment I receive. It means a lot to me, truly.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter haha, I've got interesting stuff coming up next! But for now, the long awaited conversation about the bond between them...

Ahsoka’s tears would not stop falling as Maul carried her onto the ship, the loss, pain and humiliation all burned out through her eyes. _It wasn’t enough! I am not enough! Nothing is ever enough!_ Her hand clutched at the cloak, wrapping it around herself so deeply it was like night had fallen around her eyes. She didn’t notice when Maul opened a door to the private quarters but felt as he slowly lowered her onto the mattress. Ahsoka wiped her nose and stared at the wall, she couldn’t handle Maul’s eyes right now.

“Where are you taking us?” she asked, her voice huskier and breaking.

“Deep into the Outer Rim. We will be so well cast out into that darkness that even our shadows will be lost to it” Maul said. His calm and indifferent voice burned against Ahsoka’s skin like a hot knife from the fire.

“Why hiding?!” Ahsoka growled, her eyes blazing behind her tears. “All you do- All you ever do is run and hide but you said you wanted to _kill_ Sidious you fucking hypocrite! Yet you run away like a coward and let others- “

Maul suddenly leaned in and Ahsoka’s voice froze in her throat. She suddenly became very aware of her broken ribs, her bruised body and aching shoulder. That utter black rage that just oozed from the half Sith was focused on her, burning her like a fire in a dry field.

“What a delightful life you have had _lady Tano_ , so confident on running for a kill with your army and legions at your left hand and your insufferable dead little Jedi to your right” Maul’s voice dripped venom in a menacing whisper. “You never had to do it alone! How do you feel with the foundations to _your_ strength gone in a blink of an eye? No not very good, not very good at all. So let me teach you a lesson. You are asking for death with what you want, and death is not _honourable_! What usefulness does a dead person have? None, all their achievements are wasted useless memories.”

“We fight now, we die. Sidious is looking for his enemies, he is looking for his threats and he will crush them under his boot ruthlessly, mercilessly! We run and we _survive_ which is a greater loss to him then us making a pitiful attempt for his life as he plays with his new empire. We _survive_ and we will kill him!” his voice was quiet but seemed to roar around Ahsoka’s montrals.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she clutched at the cloak, _his_ cloak like it was her only lifeline. “Then what do I do?” she whispered. Maul was silent for a moment and Ahsoka curled herself as much as her ribs would allow. “I just want him to _burn_ over this, over all of this!”

“…Use that anger lady Tano. Let it be your fuel, your drive and then you will be unstoppable!” Maul whispered.

“But then I will be like you” Ahsoka muttered back.

“Yet here I am. Alive and a _threat_. Few others can say the same.” With that his heavy footsteps marched away in the darkness, leaving Ahsoka behind.

The ship rumbled and jolted against the ground but slowly ascended from the ground. Maul’s choice of a ship was a sane one, the engines shot them out into open air quicker than most others but remained silent. Ahsoka rested her head gently against the rumbling wall and slid her eyes closed. They were gummy and hot with tears and pain.

 _I let him see me cry!_ Ahsoka shook with rage and pain. _How dare he-_

The ship boomed as the hyperdrive was engaged and even jolted suddenly making Ahsoka rock back against the bed. _Running, we are going to run…Where do we go when we’ve run out of places to go? When does the running stop and the fighting start? I hate this!_ Her fists clenched against the cloak, the dark folds creaking under the pressure.

She waited expectantly for Maul’s footsteps to thunder outside the door, for his horned head and dangerous eyes to appear before her like she thought they would. She could feel his anger and frustration through that little thing in her head. It was like an unbreakable chain connecting Ahsoka to Maul where everything he felt shook the chain until it rattled a certain way in her head. She despised that he could probably feel the same thing.

Suddenly, inspiration struck like a bell in Ahsoka’s mind. _What if Sidious looks again for Maul…What if he comes to kill Maul…I could kill him. He doesn’t know I’m with him!_ Ahsoka’s lip pulled up in a smirk. A dark fire lit in her chest and despite her broken body Ahsoka curled in on it slightly savouring the warmth that the dark ambition burned there.

_But what if Maul dies?_

Ahsoka froze and the little flame in her chest flickered slightly. The thought of him dying felt very wrong in that moment. “I doubt he will, he has his saber he can defend himself.”

_What if you die?_

The flame shuddered and grew smaller. “I won’t die!” she hissed.

_What if you die?_

“I will not die!”

_What if you fail?_

“No, I will never fail! Never again.” Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut.

_You’re thinking like him. You said you wouldn’t become like him…_

“I’m thinking like Anakin would- “

_Your master who murdered children-_

The flame in her chest wilted down until it barely existed. “Stop it!”

_Then think like Obi-wan would._

Ahsoka paused and considered her thought for a moment. “What master Kenobi is doing is exactly what we are doing now.”

_Then there is some sanity in it._

“But it’s not enough!”

_Then find some median. Find a way to make it enough…_

Ahsoka’s forehead rested against the cool wall by the bunk and slowly she nursed her wounds and her thoughts with the flame in her chest. It flickered ominously in the dark. Within that flame she slowly fed her doubts, her frustrations and her fears until it grew larger and larger. But the anger and grief remained, no matter how much she tried it would not burn with the rest. But she was not a Jedi. A little bit of anger may do her some good. A little bit of pain will make her remember what was lost.

With the cloak wrapped tightly around her the hum of the ship and the cool darkness of the room lulled her into a resigned sleep, the warm smell of grass, iron and something other easing her into oblivion. In the last few moments of consciousness she forgot to remember that it was Maul’s.

For once her sleep was peaceful. A heavy blanket lay over her mind, incubating and lifting the weight on it if only for a time. Occasionally Ahsoka would wake if she moved too much making her ribs or shoulder protest but sleep always greedily reclaimed her and she excepted it wholeheartedly. Anakin’s and Padme’s voices drifted in and out around her, the words muffled to her but the gentleness and kindness above all else reached her clear as day. Sometimes they felt closer, their words just as quiet but Ahsoka would almost feel a brush of Padme’s hand on her arm, or swish of Anakin’s robes across her back like he was right behind her. Plo-koon’s deep voice was the gentlest and most welcoming sound of all. She couldn’t hear what he said but there was such pride in his words, such warmth. Even though it was the most basic of dreams, she felt like she was home for moment.

When they all faded away, Ahsoka woke. She wasn’t surprised to find the hot tears against her face. “Okay…” she whispered while pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Okay. Get up…”

Her body protested every inch she moved. Nine-inch nails felt like they were driven into her shoulder and her ribs throbbed so much her stomach revolted with barely supressed nausea. _There has to be a refresher in here…_ Ahsoka blearily scanned the room for the tell-tale sign of the compartments doors but was disappointed to find nothing except a tiny mirror no bigger than a dinner plate. Lights activated at a wave of her hand and Ahsoka froze in shock at the person looking back at her in the mirror.

The face of the Togruta looking back at her was battered so much that only her markings gave away who she was. Her bottom lip was swollen and dark like an overripe piece of fruit blistering in the sun with a searing red tear splitting it savagely. _Two right hand jabs to the face, he had armoured gloves._

One of her eyes was nearly completely swollen shut, the orange skin a sickly green and blue mottling the skin into a patch work. _An elbow blow…_ Her nose was not broken but dried and flaky layers of blood tattooed itself around her mouth and jaw. _Who knows what that could’ve been…_ Ahsoka tilted her neck and winced as the muscles spasmed. She probed the nape of her neck, beneath her lekku tentatively and hissed at the feel of her bruised and lumpy flesh. _That was definitely that blaster hit…_ Wearily Ahsoka looked at the blood around her face and gently scratched a flake away. _I need to get this off me._

Taking a single step was making a gamble if her legs could hold her up. Every moment they shuddered like a barely hatched butterfly. _I need water…_ she thought and staggered to the door. It opened with a silent hiss and Ahsoka’s hands clutched at the sides for support when something completely unlikely rung around in her montrals.

Singing.

Mauls smooth voice was so quiet it was almost lost to the whirs and clicks of the ship. He sat in the pilots chair, only his head tilted upwards as his voice sang softly. Whatever language he used was lost to her, but it echoed around her like a memory she never had, the words flowed over each other like water in a stream. There was power in every word, every syllable that passed his lips and it spun around her head in a gentle web. Ahsoka’s injuries were forgotten as she stood there and listened. For the life of her she couldn’t tear herself away. 

It was beautiful.

 _His voice…_ The richness was almost intoxicating. So much so that her hand slid down the metal walls, her gloves audibly rasping against it. Maul immediately froze, the words freezing in his mouth, the spell broken.

His eyes blazing with fury rounded on her immediately and Ahsoka took a step back at his wrath.

“What are you doing?!” he roared, his voice booming through the ship.

“I- “Ahsoka began.

“That was _not_ for you to hear!” His feet slammed against the ground, the shocking impact vibrating up her calves and suddenly he was striding towards her. “That is _never_ for anyone else to hear!” Maul shouted into her face.

“I didn’t know!” Ahsoka barked back. “I didn’t know!”

“Is privacy a foreign concept to you?!” Maul growled, his face a contorted visage of twisted rage that no demon from legends could match. “What fucking obvious signs do _you_ need to know when something is not meant for you to witness?!”

“Look at me!” Ahsoka shouted. “Do you expect me to sit in the dark with blood all down my face?! With my ribs fucked and my whole body feeling like it has been torn apart?! I’m _so_ sorry if I interrupted _your_ little moment because I wanted a tiny bit of fresh water and bacta! Maybe next time put a precious little ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door! Or-”

The dark thing in her mind suddenly tugged violently sending a spike of pain through her brain like an ice pick. Gasping, Ahsoka grabbed her montrals desperately trying to quell the pain as the whole shuttle rattled around her. Her vision began to blur until there was not one half Sith in front of her but three.

“Don’t you _dare_ test me!” the Mauls hissed, their fists bunching by his sides. “I did not have to go and save your damn life _twice_!’

Ahsoka’s vision began to pepper with strobing black spots.

“I did not have to alert the fucking Empire of where I am let alone destroy an entire battalion for your sake!”

A piercing tone rang around her head in a high pitch squeal, the dark thing thrashing against her mind at its pitch.

“It would’ve been too easy to leave you there for that inquisitor or Sidious.”

The whole shuttle rumbled against her feet like a wave. “Stop it!” she hissed. “Please stop it!”

“You would have been dead within the hour!”

“You’re hurting me!” Ahsoka shouted desperately. For a split second Ahsoka saw confusion cloud Maul’s enraged face before everything went dark.

In the darkness, Ahsoka felt nothing but the thing in the back of her mind throb painfully. It twitched like someone was prodding it with a pike, each time Ahsoka cringed further and further away from it. But it consumed her, like a greedy little parasite. No matter how far she retreated from it, the dark thing would follow and wrack her with pain.

 _What are you?!_ She thought. It shivered in response. After a few moments something almost seemed to touch it from the other side, like a hand gently brushing against something dangerously fragile. Ahsoka flinched away from it and the sensation almost hesitated before it reached out and touched the thing in her mind again.

 _“Ahsoka Tano…”_ Maul’s voice whispered in her mind. He withdrew for a moment, waiting her reply.

Ahsoka did not want it, but his voice unconsciously drew her into the thing within her like a lodestone. She brushed against it like he did and immediately his presence returned to her along with his eyes which lit up the darkness like fires in a cave.

 _“What do you want?!”_ she said to him.

_“You passed out. Come back.”_

The darkness within her mind thrummed with pain and it only grew worse with each second that passed.

_“It hurts…”_

_“I know, I feel it too. Come back, I believe it will help.”_

Wishing for nothing but the pain to stop, Ahsoka reached towards the eyes before her. Maul’s Force circled around her like a tempest, rage and pain battering her from all sides. It was terrifying, like she was the animal under a cruel predator’s eye. But it slowly pulled her out, like her hand was grasped around a lifeline that pulled her slowly away from the abyss she was in. The dark thing in her mind flashed with pain once more before it went quiet and a rush of relief wracked her body.

“Ah” Ahsoka said out loud. She blinked slowly at the eyes above her and jolted when she realised it was Maul’s face peering down at her.

Ahsoka hissed and propped her arm up, she blinked when she felt the give of a thin mattress beneath her and slowly recognised the private quarters she was just in. _He must have carried me in…Again._

“Why did you do that?!” Ahsoka hissed. “You hurt me! Look at me, are you a sadist or something?!”

“What happened was not my intention” Maul said. “I was…Angry. Furious. But I did not use the Force against you.”

“But the ground was shaking, you were using the Force!”

“But not against you. I have trained with the Force since I was three, I know how to control it.”

“Then why…” Ahsoka trailed off and looked away. The only reason why was the unnamed thing between them and their minds.

Maul slowly walked over to the wall and pulled forward am unmarked crate before the bed. He sat down and clasped his hands before him, his eyes lost in thought. Ahsoka flushed at how close they were to each other but said nothing.

“We need to talk about this connection between us” Maul said.

Ahsoka closed her split lips and looked towards the wall behind him. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh yes because you didn’t just pass out from it! You’re a fool and a liar if you think that.”

“I am neither!”

“Well pretending this doesn’t exist makes you plenty of both. Tell me have you ever heard of such a connection before?” When Ashoka said nothing, Maul nodded and continued. “I haven’t either and that in of itself is a problem.”

“Why, are you such a font of knowledge concerning things like this?” Ahsoka pivoted on her side, watching him fully.

“During my training as Sidious’s apprentice there was many, many Sith and abandoned Jedi temples he took me to- “

“There are no abandoned Jedi temples. They are all protected.”

“There was. In the forgotten corners of the galaxy and they were nothing at all like the ones you know of. Besides which, all Jedi temples are since unguarded now if you recall- “

“Enough!” Ahsoka snapped. “Don’t you dare talk about _that_!”

“You seem to think that I _wanted_ the Jedi to be slaughtered in their entirety. Did I not try to tell you this would happen?!”

Ahsoka tilted her chin up at him and glared. “Do not speak to me of such things!”

Maul snorted, his horns glinting in the low light. “Be that as it may I was taken to _abandoned_ Jedi and Sith temples. And there I learned things, many things. Those places were filled with death and ruination, but behind the filth and the corpses there was knowledge. Old knowledge” Maul trailed off his eyes lost to his old memories and Ahsoka watched him carefully. Though she did not reach for the thing in her mind, the pain and betrayal that he suffered was plain to her. She was suddenly reminded that he was only a baby when he was sold to Sidious and a little bit of her own pain twanged in her heart for him.

“I was forced to breathe in the ashes of the dead on Malachor, of Jedi and Sith alike. And there was…things there. Old things I cannot comprehend that was now lost to Force” Maul blinked, and his eyes were trained on her again. “But nothing about this…thing here.”

“Wait-why…Why were you forced to breathe the ashes of the dead?” Ahsoka asked incredulously. _That sounds awful._

“Irrelevant. There are many things in the Force that have been lost, but this was never known. Did your Jedi teach you of such things, or mention anything at all that could be connected?”

“I…No. There was never anything said about this.”

Maul sighed again and nodded. He stood again, his cybernetic legs whirring to life as he pulled himself up. He turned and disappeared through the doorway for a moment and left Ahsoka in thought.

 _Could there have been something I have missed in my lessons?_ Ahsoka thought and began to scratch at the blood on her face. _It doesn’t make sense that this thing is between me and a Sith. Is there some connection between the light and the dark side?_

Maul’s footsteps heralded him back into the room and with him he brought a water bottle and a thick cloth. He sat on the crate once more and thrust his hands towards her offering the items.

 _Oh._ Wordlessly, Ahsoka took both things in one hand and sniffed the contents of the bottle. The water within was tinged with chemicals from the water recycler but she was used to that. Otherwise it was just water. She doused the cloth and slowly drew it against her face, the dried blood pulling at her flesh like a thin mask before being cleaned away. Soon the cloth was tinted red. She hissed in pain as she snapped the raw end of her split lip.

“I’m afraid I do not have any bacta on this ship” Maul said.

“Well, at least there is water” Ahsoka sighed and took a swig from the canister. It stung her throat as she swallowed but the sensation morphed into a soothing coolness. Sighing with relief she looked back to the half Sith with slightly less anger than before.

“I once met the representations of the Force” she said slowly.

“What?”

“Me and my master” Ahsoka began, deliberately leaving out Obi-wan’s name. “We found ourselves on a planet called Mortis and there we met these three beings, I guess. They called themselves the Ones but were also known as the Father, the Bro- “

“The Brother and the Sister” Maul finished in a whisper, his eyes alight with awe. “You met these three?”

“Yes, but how do you know of them?”

“The Nightsisters on Dathomir worshiped them. It’s been part of our culture for centuries…But to meet them, you were truly privileged.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say privileged” Ahsoka paused bitterly. The Brother’s cadaver like face flashed in her mind and she glared at the bloodied cloth in her hands. “I died on Mortis. The Brother killed me.”

Maul’s eyes widened in surprise, and Ahsoka couldn’t help but study the new expression. _I wonder how often you have been surprised by something…_ It softened the anger in his eyes, and Ahsoka couldn’t help but appreciate the glow it gave him.

“Then how are you here?” Maul asked.

“The Sister gave her life to save mine. Her life Force is now my own” Ahsoka clutched her hand to her chest. “She didn’t have to, but she did. And I am here because of her.”

“The life of one of the Twins belongs to you” Maul whispered breathlessly. His gloved hand reached out slowly and Ahsoka froze, mortified as her pressed his fingers to her forehead. The dark thing in her mind pulsed at the contact. Shivering, Ahsoka tossed her head to the side, throwing his hand off of her.

“Don’t do that!” she growled.

Maul blinked and quickly pulled away his hand. “My apologies. But with such information I cannot take it lightly.”

Ahsoka opened her mouth and looked away, slightly mollified by the unexpected apology but equally surprised that he _could_ apologise for such a small thing. “Yes well anyway” she said hurriedly. “This thing between our minds. It could be something to do with that?”

“Hm…That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why not?”

Maul almost seemed to shake himself out of his revere and cupped his chin in the flat of his hand, his fingers tapped idly on the square of his jaw. “Because I take it that I am not the first Sith that you have met?”

“Half Sith” Ahsoka smirked.

“Irrelevant from you half Jedi!”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes but continued. “But no, I had frequent encounters with Asajj Ventress, the Chancellor before he was known as Sidious and Dooku once or twice. Nothing like this has ever happened.”

Maul nodded and was silent for a long moment. Looking away Ahsoka took another long sip of her water and sighed at the cool fluid that seemed to wash through her entire body. When the water flowed into her stomach it rumbled slightly. _I hope he brought food with him…_

“So it must not be that. But this isn’t something we should ignore” Maul began quietly. “We need to learn about it before we make any decision or move towards Sidious. This _could_ be something he can use against us.”

“I suppose…” Ahsoka sighed and set the canister down. _But ending this partnership as soon as possible would be far more ideal. But he makes a point, what_ if _Sidious can use this against us?_ She scowled at the bloodied cloth by her side. “Where do you suppose we go to learn of these things?”

“Somewhere where the Force is strong. A simple temple will not do, and more likely then not the Empire is probably watched for any remaining Jedi that would seek them out.”

 _If there is any more Jedi left…_ “Dathomir?” Ahsoka offered. It was well known that the Force was strong on that twilight planet.

“No, absolutely not” Maul shook his head vigorously. “I do not know if Sidious has abandoned his search for me. If he hasn’t, Dathomir would be the first place he would look. And besides…” Loss swept over his features and the Zabrak tilted his head down ever so slightly. “I cannot go back. Not yet, maybe never. All my people are gone.” 

“What?” Ahsoka sat up slightly. “What do you mean?!”

Maul’s brow lowered and fixed her with a hard and pained look. “You do not know?”

“No, I’ve never heard of this” Ahsoka brow pinched. “What happened?”

“Sidious…” Maul sighed. His shoulders slumped slightly and the hardness of his brow softened, his eyes trailed to the side unable to look at her. Ahsoka couldn’t help feeling moved by the haunted vulnerability she saw. _It’s just like in the throne room._ Her heartbeat against her ribs painfully.

“Maul?” she said softly.

The half Sith suddenly shook himself and like a switch being flicked, the grief and vulnerability was gone. His yellow eyes met hers again and the anger was back, drawing his eyes down into a mask of rage. “He killed them to hurt me! I will not give him the satisfaction of returning, I won’t give him the _excuse_ of stepping foot on my world anymore. Dathomir is not an option!”

“Okay” Ahsoka held her hand up.

“Dead they are all dead or lost!”

Ahsoka leaned forward and smacked his knee with her good hand. A deep and menacing growl rumbled out of his throat at the contact but Ahsoka ignored it. “We won’t go to Dathomir. We will think of something else.”

Maul glared at her with a twisted sneer before sniffing and folding his arms. “No not Dathomir…Enough of Sidious and Dathomir” he said tightly. “There are only a few other planets that I know of. Dagobah being one, its in the Sluis sector of the Outer Rim. But that planet is a collection of swamps and mires in darkness, nearly impossible to navigate.”

“We shouldn’t rule it out. The only other planets I know of are out of the question. Malachor and Jedha.”

Maul rubbed his face and idly his iron foot began to tap against the ground, the impact booming around the small room. “I will do some research” he finally said.

“Yeah but I will too.”

“No. I will not have you passing out every few minutes because you’re bored and think you can move around. Next time you collapse to the floor I mean it when I said I will drag you by you lekku!” Maul growled.

“Yes but that wasn’t exactly my fault was it?” Ahsoka sneered.

Maul opened his mouth, his eyes burning with anger and Ahsoka glared back, unintimidated by his primal tactics. Growling under his breath, Maul stood and kicked the crate back to the wall, before turning to leave.

 _Well I guess that’s that then!_ Ahsoka snorted and made to roll on her side when his footsteps stopped.

“Lady Tano” Maul’s smooth voice was filled with a tightness that broke the richness it usually possessed. “I…Am sorry that I hurt you. I was _understandably_ angry. But it was never my intention to harm you at all.”

Ahsoka’s jaw dropped slightly and awkwardly she turned around to face him. His arms were crossed tightly, and his jaw worked like he was trying to chew the words he spoke like a moody cow. _Well that came out of nowhere._ Ahsoka nodded and considered his words. _He doesn’t know what’s happening anymore than I do_.

“…Just don’t do _that_ again” Ahsoka mumbled and looked away from him awkwardly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Maul nod and turn to leave again.

The black cloak draped over her body shifted again and the warm scent that she grew to know as Maul’s drifted around her nose. _He saved my life…_

“Maul!” Ahsoka suddenly called out to him. The half Sith froze and turned slightly to watch her from the doorway. “I’m also… sorry. I don’t know what it was I walked in on but looking back I know it was private. I shouldn’t have stayed. But…” Ahsoka trailed off.

“But what?” Maul’s voice was softer than she ever heard it. She looked back towards him and met his eyes. They glinted with defensiveness and of course his anger, but it almost seemed clouded over by the curiosity.

Ahsoka shifted again and hoped that the blood heating her face couldn’t be seen in the low light. “I don’t know the song or even the language. But it was…nice.” _It was beautiful._ “It felt like an old memory.”

Maul said nothing but stared at her, his features frozen in a blank yet contemplating expression. Skin prickling under his gaze, Ahsoka shrugged with embarrassment and held the cloak closer to her. “Anyway, I’m sorry!”

The corner of Maul’s lip twitched upwards, softening his face and the angry gleam in his eyes faded. In the low light, she saw the power and intelligence in his eyes, the sharpness of his jaw, the strength to his cheek bones, the intricate yet symmetrical tattoos mapping it all together. In the low light and silence, Ahsoka realised with horror that he _is_ handsome.

And then she nearly reached for the saber to burn her eyes out.

“You were asleep for sixteen hours; I should’ve expected you to wake soon.”

Ahsoka tore her eyes away and pretended to inspect the water bottle before her. _I was asleep for that long?!_ Ahsoka blinked and then shook her head. “Yes well…” she trailed off.

Maul grunted and stepped through the door, sealing her inside. _Well I guess he accepted the apology._ Ahsoka lay down again and tried to get as comfortable as her ribs would allow. In the empty room, she tried to clear her mind and allow herself to meditate. But her mind was never truly clear. Each time she found some measure of peace in meditation, the dark thing at the back would almost beckon her towards it.

 _Come look at me_ , it almost seemed to say. _See what secrets and knowledge I have._ But those secrets would be Maul’s. And Ahsoka did not want to muddy the waters the two of them just cleaned.

The small lights from above blinked down at her, the dim blue light soothing to her eyes. That little girls face would flash behind her lowering eyes lids or her master’s, two memories of her failures. _Enough!_ She thought and shoved the two away remorsefully. _I cannot honour either of you here. Not alone in the dark, not without the sun or stars or moonlight._

Ahsoka hoped their spirits would wait until she could remember them as a Jedi would.

Only one memory remained.

Unbidden, the strong and rich voice came back to her. She didn’t know that the few moments she stood their watching him ingrained them so deeply into her mind, but word for word, the melody whispered to her. Ahsoka mumbled the words under her breath, her tongue tripping over and catching on the strange syllables.

 _There may be more to him then I expected,_ she thought. _He didn’t care for my tears. Obi-wan called him insane, but nothing about him seems that way. Half mad maybe. But he saw it all before we could. Maybe I’m going half mad myself._ She tried to laugh but all that came out of her throat was a heart-broken sob.

_What are you Maul?_

The song was more welcome then the thing in her mind or the memories. Part of her wished that she had heard more of it, but what she had was enough. Ahsoka feel asleep with Maul’s song singing in her head and with his cloak cocooned around her.

Whoever he is now was not at all who she expected. She found herself more grateful for that then she could imagine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka: "Oh no he's hot!"
> 
> Lol, honestly this is enemies to friends to lovers, but there is nothing wrong with Ahsoka suddenly realizing that this man is almost a little too easy on the eyes.  
> Also regarding Maul's song. I remember in TCW series, the dathomirian people would sing and chant when remembering or undergoing a ritual. I won't spoil what he was singing about that is for later ;) But I don't think it is out of the question that Maul would follow the customs of his people :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright people here it is! We have a big chapter as a treat for waiting so enjoy :) Not much angst this chapter, more like the beginning of bonding <3

A tight pain in Ahsoka’s belly was what woke her from her fitful sleep. “Mm” she mumbled and slowly sat up. Her ribs protested the movement sending pain lancing up her spine. _Shit_ she thought, and wrapped her good arm around her body, holding herself tightly. She glanced around the room and noticed there was no clock or timekeeper to tell her how long she was asleep. But it felt like she was passed out for not too long.

 _I’ve slept long enough anyway. I need to see what Maul’s doing._ She got to her feet and was grateful that it was easier than before, but a pain in her right hip and knee produced a sever limp. That coupled with her bound right arm made her shadow a shambling figure covered in the long cloak like some ghoul. _No longer a proud Jedi, I guess…_ As she hobbled towards the door, she quickly glanced at the mirror and was relieved to look more herself. The blood staining her face was gone and the swelling around her eye was less sever. Only her lip looked no better and the dark bruising around her face was still blotchy, disrupting her white markings. She glanced at the water bottle and bloodied cloth by her bed and unconsciously held Maul’s cloak closer to her.

 _Speaking of which_ , she approached the door but hesitated before stepping in front of the movement sensor. The memory of Maul’s song flickered in her mind and immediately after the pain of his rage at being witnessed, no matter if it was an accident. _Don’t want that to happen again!_ Though she wouldn’t object to hearing him sing once more…Cautiously she reached to the thing in her mind and tentatively touched. Even now, after talking about it, the strange thing felt uncomfortably foreign and enticing at the same time. She brushed it with her conscious mind for a second and after a long moment, Maul’s mind brushed back, his eyes glinting at Ahsoka in her mind.

_“I’m coming out. So don’t try to kill me if your…Doing something I guess.”_

Ahsoka blinked as she felt a flash of annoyance and surprisingly amusement from the half Sith.

_“Very well Lady Tano.”_

His mind moved away from her immediately and Ahsoka let out a pent-up sigh and released the thing in her mind. It twitched as the connection was lost, and Ahsoka felt almost disappointed that it was gone. _I guess he accepted my apology_. Trying to straighten herself as much as possible and ignore the pain in her leg, she approached the door and stepped through into the pilot’s chamber.

Maul, sitting in the pilot’s seat turned to her, his eyes immediately evaluating every inch of her body. Trying to ignore his studious gaze, Ahsoka walked forwards slowly, trying to ease out of the painful yet humiliating limp she had. Her pain wasn’t lost to the half Sith, his eyes followed her the entire time.

“You did not tell me that your leg is hurt” he said.

“Well I didn’t notice until recently. Wasn’t exactly moving around was I.”

Maul grunted and turned to face the viewing window, the blue streaks of stars flashing past in a glow as the hyperdrive warped their image. Ahsoka winced and slowly lowered herself into the co-pilot’s seat, adjusting the cloak around her to cover her cold shoulders.

“Is your leg sprained or broken?”

“Bruised at best” Ahsoka replied and touched the flesh around her upper leg. It bunched in pain. “Maybe sprained.”

“Can you see to it yourself or do you need help?” Maul asked calmly.

“I can see to it” Ahsoka said quickly. “How long was I asleep this time?”

“Only four hours. We haven’t made much progress through the Outer Rim as of yet.”

“Hm” she nodded and the two fell silent. Maul casually flicked through a data pad on hand and Ahsoka watched him out of the corner of her eye. The Zabrak was seemingly relaxed, his finger swiping lazily down the data pad screen balanced on his crossed knee, his other hand propped his jaw up from the arm rest. But his eyes were busy and the muscle around his jaw was bunched tightly. The silence was…odd. _I don’t think we ever had a conversation where we weren’t arguing with each other or just finished an argument._ She didn’t count his stories on the escape shuttle, for she didn’t trust him then.

 _Do I trust him now?_ She watched the light hit his jaw and frowned. _No, not yet._ She ignored the ‘yet’ in her thoughts. “Do we have any food? And painkiller for that matter?” she asked, breaking the strange silence.

Maul glanced at her and set aside the data pad onto the control board. Without a word he stood and walked to one of the ships walls. Ahsoka spun around and watched him as he pressed a panel. It ejected out of the wall, revealing an icy open box, vapour curling in the light. “What is your diet?” he turned to her and asked.

“Ah, mainly protein but I can eat fruits and vegetables too.”

Maul stuck his hand into the draw and fished out a dark container. He pressed the draw back in place and reached above the panel he just closed, pressing another narrower one. It popped open like a cupboard door and within he grabbed a little glass jar before closing that one too. His footsteps boomed on the ground and he dropped the containers into Ahsoka’s lap.

“Oh-ah, thank you” Ahsoka said and picked up the glass jar. Inside a great number of circular pale pink pills rattled around like marbles and she glanced at Maul briefly. His yellow eyes were already looking at her and she blinked quickly at his blank stare. “These pain killers?”

Maul said nothing but nodded.

Ahsoka looked at them carefully. After her many years on the battlefield, in the infirmary and medic’s tents she never saw these before. She looked back at Maul and gave him a suspicious look. “I’ve never seen these before.”

Maul sighed and lazily held out his hand. Ahsoka placed the jar in it and immediately Maul opened it and dropped two tablets into his other gloved hand. Still staring into her eyes he dropped them into his mouth and swallowed them noisily. “They are fine” he growled. “Just Outer Rim medicine.”

He handed her the jar again and this time Ahsoka fished out one from the jar and swallowed it dry. _I won’t take two, I’ve got to keep sharp._ The bitter pill forced its way down her gullet making her cough slightly.

“Lady Tano if I wanted to kill you, I would have left you on Belderone.”

“As you like to remind me” Ahsoka said mildly. Maul snorted and the half Jedi regarded him for a moment. “Why do you call me Lady Tano?” 

“Excuse me?”

“Well, no one has ever called me that. It’s either been Ahsoka or just Tano.”

“It’s because I respect you” Maul said, his golden eyes level with her.

Ahsoka felt her lips part in surprise. As a competent commander, more than capable warrior, half Jedi and padawan to Anakin Skywalker, she was due respect. But she did not expect it from this man.

“I’m glad you respect me. But why do you? We were enemies not long ago.”

“Just because we were once enemies does not mean I cannot respect my enemies. Take Kenobi as an apt example. I detest him, I hate him down to every cell in my body” Maul’s eyes narrowed, and anger began to brew in them. His voice began to shake with rage as he spoke. “He is the reason I am who I am now. And I _resent_ that. I will not be content with this life until he is dead!”

Ahsoka winced and looked awkwardly at the jar in her hands.

“But that does not mean I do not respect him for the fighter he is.”

“But I _did_ capture you on Mandalore. Even if you did disarm me twice, I was victorious- “

“I am not denying that” Maul said dangerously.

“So why do you not hate me?” Ahsoka continued. Her heart thumped in her chest as those anger filled eyes turned on her.

Maul twisted in his chair, his square shoulders facing her completely and stared at her for a moment. Part of Ahsoka knew that he wasn’t necessarily angry at her, but she was mildly concerned that she was prodding him into another rage. _I cannot handle that right now…_

“Because you did not leave me half dead! A true warrior would never leave his or her opponent like I was. I hate that he cut me down, but if he had any honour, he would have ensured the kill! Yes you captured me, but you were not malicious about it and watched me constantly. You acknowledged the threat I posed even when captured, and that in of itself is a complement to my strength. And there for your own respect. That and the fact that you are a very good dualist and fought with honour.”

“Oh” Ahsoka said, surprised once again at the unexpected compliments he gave her. _But I don’t think it’s too much of an assumption to think someone is dead after being cut in half…_ “I mean…You are a dangerous person. It would feel irresponsible to not be watching over you.”

Maul golden eyes did not look away from her and the anger seemed to cool off slightly. The thing in her mind stirred slightly and Ahsoka frowned at the movement and Maul did too.

“Did you feel that?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay. It feels unusual.”

Maul grunted and turned back towards the viewing window. “Most foreign things in your mind feel strange or unpleasant. I don’t know if we will ever get used to it.”

 _How does he know what other things in your mind feel like?_ Ahsoka thought and remembered their previous conversation about the ashes of Malachor. _That or Sidious…_ She remembered that he spent nearly his entire life under the fist of that man and felt sympathy stir in her chest.

“But…I do respect you Maul. I’m honestly glad you weren’t fighting to kill me on Mandalore, I don’t know if I would’ve won if you were.” Ahsoka looked down at the container in her lap. The admission sat like a rock in her chest. _Was I ever as good as I thought I was?_

A gloved hand reached over and grasped the top of her hand, gently but firm. The leather was softer than she anticipated. Ahsoka snapped her face to the man it belonged to and his golden eyes looked into her own serenely. Shocked, she did nothing, but as he looked at her, she couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were less bloodshot, but more tired.

“When you’re healed, and can walk with confidence in your step again, we will fight each other. And we will fight in earnest!” he said, his voice rich with anticipation.

“But why?” Ahsoka asked, a brow raised.

“It has been far too long since I had a sparring partner who I consider equal. And once Sidious is in our grasp, we will need all the skills we have, ready and at their prime for a kill!” with that Maul leaned back and his hand pulled itself off her own. Ahsoka did not miss it, but she was nervous at how okay she was with him touching her in such a way.

“Well I hope you’re ready to lose again” Ahsoka smirked, trying to mask her conflicting emotions. But the gig was up. The confidence was gone from her voice, and no amount of smirking could hide that.

“Pah, don’t be so cocky” Maul said, ignoring the lack of commitment in her voice. “I won’t be fighting to convince you this time, it will be the closest to a death match we can achieve.”

“So you _are_ aiming to try and kill me!” Ahsoka glared at him.

“Oh yes that’s why I’m waiting until you’re healed to fight you, _lady Tano_. If we fight to the death, we will see each other’s weaknesses and our strengths! We can build on those once they are exposed. And believe me I will not be aiming to connect a death blow, and I assume you have the same restraints as I do.”

“…I can understand that” Ahsoka nodded, slightly appeased by his words. Looking at the dark grey container in hand, she undid the clasp and flipped it open. Inside was a selection of dark red cured meats. The spicy and smoky smell made her nostrils twitch and her pupils dilate with hunger. It had been too long since she last had _real_ meat. The Jedi were too fond of their commissioned protein bars, nutrients and faux meat. And as a civilian on Coruscant she was too poor to afford the incredibly expensive and sub-par products. She quickly picked one strip up and the texture itself boasted the real feeling of what a good meal was.

 _Finally!_ She bit into the portion and an explosion of flavour burst in her mouth. It was paradise. The strips of food disappeared one by one, in her hunger Ahsoka did not have the patience to savour the food and soon only a handful were left. Licking her lips, Ahsoka considered the leftovers and was torn between finishing it off or saving them for later. _Who knows if the rest of the food is this descent…_ regretfully she closed the container and placed it on the control console next to Maul’s data pad. The thing in her mind twitched slightly and Ahsoka looked over again to find Maul watching her intently. She frowned at him and held the cloak more securely around her.

“Have you found any other planet or something that is strong in the Force?” she asked.

“No” Maul said, and his eyes drifted out the viewing window. “There is little known about them and even less researchers voyaging out in search for these places in recent years. Tell me, is Mortis accessible to us?”

“What- Mortis? Why that place?”

“A place so strong in the Force is a perfect location to learn. And besides with the Three there it would unlock the mysteries behind it.”

“Well” Ahsoka began. “That is something I did not tell you. When Anakin and I left, the Brother both killed the Father and technically the Sister by killing me. Not to mention that everything on that planet is surrounded in the dark side.”

Maul blinked and disappointment pulled his face down. “They are truly dead?”

“Yes I was there and as I said the Sister gave her life to me.”

“We could still learn so much by going there- “

“Maul” Ahsoka snapped. “I know you use the dark side exclusively, but I refuse to go back there after that _person_ ” she spat the last word. “Murdered me!”

“But we have the opportunity to learn even more than what we could learn elsewhere! Put this matter behind you- “

“Would you say the same if we needed advice from master Kenobi?! Would you be fine to put behind your past to learn something from him?!” Ahsoka said before she could stop herself.

Maul’s eyes glinted dangerously. “The Brother and Kenobi are two completely different entities! There would be no exception to me, he will be dead when I next confront him!”

 _And I would stop you._ Ahsoka shook her head and tried to soften her voice. “Different entities or not please understand why I cannot speak to the Brother about this or even see him. This isn’t something I can forgive, just like how you cannot forgive master Kenobi. And even if I ignored everything else, the Brother is evil, manipulative and untrustworthy. He would play mind games with us and do everything in his power to use us to get off planet. He is bound there as he should be. I cannot imagine how the universe would be if he managed off get off planet now…”

Anger and frustration tormented Maul and caused the thing in their minds to twitch uncontrollably. And yet, Maul took a deep breath and drummed his fingers against the arm of the pilots seat. “Very well. If we cannot go to Mortis, then we must go elsewhere. Dagobah is our only option.”

“Dagobah” Ahsoka sighed, relieved, yet her thoughts still lingered on that cursed planet and on Anakin. Grief washed over her and before she knew it and she let it colour her words. “You were not the only one to have visions of Anakin. The Father thought him the Chosen One, a person to bring balance to the Force and tried to get him to stay and fulfil that prophecy. He refused” Ahsoka looked across again at Maul. “Now, after everything. I wish he had stayed. All of this would not have happened.”

Maul’s fingers stopped drumming on the armrest, and he looked back at her. “You cannot know that.”

“I’d say that anything different from right now is an improvement.”

Maul shrugged and wearily ran his hand down his face. With a sigh he leaned forward and punched in a long coordinate number into the control panel. The screen flashed some text.

“Coordinates accepted: Planet Dagobah, M class planet. 14 hours before arrival.”

“I am tired Lady Tano. I’d say you have slept more than enough, but can you manage not collapsing on the control panel? Or collapsing anywhere for that matter.”

Ahsoka frowned at his low jab but then looked over his face. There was an exhausted glaze coating his eyes, an even more grim expression that pressed his lips flat and a slump to his broad shoulders. He still somehow managed to look almost regal despite it all.

“I’ll be okay, I doubt I can sleep anymore anyway…”

“Were you having nightmares? I noticed your sleep was restless previously” he tapped his temple.

Ahsoka flushed and looked away from him. “They weren’t necessarily. But when I woke up…” she trailed off.

“Hmm. Very well. Don’t do anything stupid” Maul turned and began to walk towards the private quarters with its one bed.

“Glad you think so highly of me” she muttered under her breath. When the private room’s door hissed closed Ahsoka sighed and slumped even more in her seat. Her ribs didn’t ache so much she noticed. _Must be the pain killer._

She felt the ship adjust itself to the new coordinates and her thoughts turned to Dagobah. _I wonder if we are even able to learn anything there. There is no guarantee, and if not, then what do we do?_ It was another thing she would have to discuss with Maul.

“If we can’t confront Sidious until later then what would we do?” Ahsoka tapped her arm and stared out into space. _He seems determined that we stay partners I guess though I do not know why. I would’ve thought he would want to restart his criminal empire, maybe he will and expects me to join him…_

Ahsoka sneered at the thought. _Me, a criminal!_ But then again, being who she was under this new empire was being a criminal in of itself. _If he does try to make a new criminal underworld, maybe it will be against the empire and not those trying to rebel. But is anyone trying to rebel?_

There was more than just one true and un-corrupt politician then Padme. Ahsoka couldn’t believe they rolled on their backs and gave up once Chancellor Palpatine revealed himself for who he was. _Though Padme was Padme…Who else has the charisma and leadership that could lead a rebellion?_ She wished she paid more attention to the other senators, but most of her time spent on Coruscant was only training and following Anakin or master Kenobi around, which always led to Padme.

 _Luke…Leia. That was their names…_ Ahsoka’s heart twisted for all four of the Skywalkers. She hopped that whatever they learned about their father; it would only be everything he was before Palpatine. _If they ever learn about him…_

Suddenly a cold thing swept over her mind like a storm. Yelping, Ahsoka clutched her montrals and immediately sensed the dark thing within her mind sending out shocking wave after wave of ice. “What the fuck?!” she swore and rounded towards the private quarters. Despite the icy pain numbing her head, Ahsoka touched the thing within her furiously.

“Had no intention to harm you my- “Ahsoka’s words froze in her throat as she connected to Maul. There were no eyes, no images or words flashing through her mind. Only insurmountable pain, and darkness. But not her own.

His.

Phantom pain. Old and new alike, and in amongst all the torment there was fear. She recognised it, always simmering in the back of Maul’s eyes every time she looked at him, but now there was no rage or hatred masking it. The fear and pain raged like the oceans of Kamino in its worst storm, untameable and worse. It was unstoppable.

Her heartbeat against her chest so hard she thought it might break through her bones. She was dimly aware of a cold drop of sweat rolled off her temple and onto her shaking hand. Immediately she threw herself away from the thing in her mind and gasped with relief as the connection was lost. The ice was still there, still rolling out in waves, but anything was better than that.

“Maul?” she whispered and turned back to the door. Tension filled the cock pit as she fidgeted in her seat, confused at what she should do. _Nightmares, it must be nightmares or memories._ She put her hand on the armrest to push herself up but then stopped. _I really don’t think he would appreciate me walking into that room…_ But despite who he was, all the things he has done, all the pain he put people through, she could not sit by and do nothing.

 _And what about all the pain I’ve caused people?_ A chill went down her spine at the thought. She never forgot the faces of the Separatists she cut down, but she would never know their families. Or their dreams and ambitions. Maul may have much more blood on his hands but hers were not clean either. And she _would_ want someone to help her. Sitting back in the chair, Ahsoka filled her lungs with air, released her breath and then claimed another. Carefully she reached out and to the thing in her mind.

All of it hit her again like a blow to the face, knocking the held breath out of her lungs. The storm raged on, regardless of her presence, it made her question if he even knew she was there. _“Maul!”_ she shouted out to the void. _“Maul wake up! It’s a dream- “_

Her voice was lost in his distress, like an oppressive wave the chaos knocked back at her and the thing in her mind became blistering cold. Words whispered to her, echoing out to her from the darkness, but she could never make them out. Overlapping and hissing like a snake the mutterings boomed in the void.

Ahsoka’s heart thundered and her breath began to labour. “Stop, please stop!” she whispered. But nothing stopped. It all grew louder, filling up every dark corner of their shared minds, pain leeching its away from him to her. _Enough!_

“I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I am one with the Force and the Force is with me…” Ahsoka whispered.

If Maul was aware of anything within his nightmare, the sound of Ahsoka’s voice drifting over his mind would be the thing to snap his eyes open. But it wasn’t so, the nightmare or memories sank their claws deep into him holding all his attention. Quietly, Ahsoka whispered her little mantra over and over in her mind. At first nothing changed. The pain and fear continued to torment both of them, the half-muttered whispers still echoed around the void. But slowly the whispers began to stop.

“I am one with the Force- “

The waves of fear and pain began to settle as Ahsoka’s heart began to slow.

“-And the Force is with me.”

A small spot of light bloomed in the darkness. The storm was fading, and the void began to lighten revealing a stirring lake beneath Ahsoka’s feet. _So this is his mind?_ The waves of the lake still lapped around her feet, through them she felt the fear and pain begin to fade.

“For I am one with the Force…” Ahsoka slowly pulled away from Maul’s mind, the lake disappearing from view. Releasing a pent-up breath Ahsoka opened her eyes and was grateful to find the thing in the back of her mind no longer freezing. 

Slumping back in her seat, Ahsoka gazed into space, her brow pinching with worry. Every chime from the computer, every unexpected flash from a button made the half Jedi jump in her seat. _What happened to him?_

It was a terrifying thought, that there were such things in the universe that made Darth Maul face horrors every night. Suddenly the pain and anger always within his eyes made sense, but not all of what he has done for her. It made all his acts towards her replay in her mind. Him dragging her away from her Clones opening fire upon them. Maul, draping a cloak around her broken body as he held her in the rain. Maul, pushing the girl’s saber into her hands. Maul telling her she is one of the greatest warriors he met. _Was that all kindness?_ It doesn’t make sense after all she saw.

Sympathy flooded her heart making her gape and she shook her head in a confused daze. _You’re more complex than I thought…_ A glance at the clock told her only an hour had gone by. She was with Maul’s nightmare longer than she thought. Part of her wanted to march into the private room look him directly into the eyes and ask who the hell he was. Another part of her was reluctant to even see him so soon.

Time dragged on and Ahsoka tried desperately to not think about all that she saw or the lake within Maul’s mind. But every hour Ahsoka found herself hesitantly connecting to the bond between them and checking in on him for a few seconds. When she gently touched his mind, she was always transported back to that lake cast in a dim light. _It must be the Force representing his mind…_ It was the only explanation she could guess for seeing the infinite pool of water at her feet. As soon as she could sense no turmoil within him, she quickly left before he could wake and detect her. Though the lake never truly settled. There was always some swells full of anger that Ahsoka did not understand, but they never grew. She decided soon that his mind was always like that. Another hour ticked by and Ahsoka was just about to reach out again into his mind when she felt it move.

“Shit!” she swore and jerked forward in her seat. _Shit he could have sensed me!_ Ahsoka thought nervously and bunched her hands into fists. The half Jedi would hate it if someone was trying to poke around in her mind when she tried to sleep. She only meant to help but there is no way he would accept that. A telling hiss echoed around the pilot chambers and soon metal cybernetic legs paced down the room. With a sigh the half Sith dropped himself into the pilots seat and idly rested his head on his fist, his bright eyes flickering across the computer.

Ahsoka directed a quick nod to him and kept her eyes centred on the viewing window. _I don’t think he knows. Good, I hope those nightmares aren’t common-_ An angry growl cut Ahsoka’s thoughts off quickly. The thing in her mind tugged and she winced at the distinct sense of frustration that echoed through the bond they shared.

“I told you to wake me after a few hours!” Maul snarled and his big yellow eyes snapped to her like a snake, boring into the side of her head. “It’s been fucking six and a half!”

Ahsoka adjusted her grip on the flight controls. “If you were naturally asleep for that long then your body needed the rest- “

“That’s not the damn point!”

“Well what did you expect me to do?!” Ahsoka snapped but kept her eyes firmly away from the man next to her. “It’s not like anything happened. And I’m not helpless!”

Through the slight reflection in the viewing window, Ahsoka grimaced at the burning eyes that glared at her. “Besides…You noticed when I had nightmares. I notice when you have your own. I thought it would be best- “

“My nightmares?! If you went looking through my mind, I swear- “

“I did not!” Ahsoka lied. “At first when I noticed something was happening, I did immediately connect to your mind- “

An angry growl rolled out of Maul’s mouth.

“-Because I thought it may be Sidious!”

The growl cut short. But those lanterns were focused on her like a sniper. It took a lot to look him in the eye and lie. “I thought it may be Sidious looking for you again. When I realised it was not, I immediately left.”

“You immediately left?” Maul voice was menacing and laced with suspicion.

“Yes. I was going to wake you, but then it seemed your nightmares stopped.” _No thanks to me._ “And I thought it would be best to let you sleep that off.”

Maul sighed and crossed his arms, an angry glare still plastered on his face. “Don’t even try and assume what is best for me. I am not one of your beloved Clones, nor a Jedi. If that was you, I would’ve woken you.”

Ahsoka sighed and turned over to Maul. The light from the stars, computer and shuttle glanced off his cheekbones, horns and his eyes making them gleam. She blinked and shook her head with embarrassment and shame. “I don’t really believe that.”

“Oh, why not? Tell me why you don’t believe that.”

“You let me sleep for over sixteen hours despite saying I’ve slept enough. You put me back into that room when I collapsed on the ground. Don’t be hypocritical.” Maul sneered but Ahsoka sighed at the site, completely unaffected by his trademark look. “I don’t know you, Maul. You’re angry and blood thirsty, but I don’t think you are as callous as you seem to be.”

“Lady Tano I did not know you possessed such boundless wisdom and internal insight to even think you know me” Maul growled back and looked out to the computer; his sneer reflected grossly in the viewing window.

Ahsoka shook her head, but a spark of compassion flickered through her soul. _I do know something about you. You sometimes sing. I bet no one knows that you can sing well._ She paused. _You’re not as crazed as everyone said you are, I don’t think you are even that crazy. Just angry. Angry at everything. I probably shouldn’t have brought up the nightmares…_ Without a second thought Ahsoka struggled to her feet, the pain in her hip without hesitation burned its way across her leg and lower back. With a grim look, Ahsoka struggled on and limped over to the refrigeration unit. Maul’s eyes followed her the entire time.

There was that familiar hiss as Ahsoka pressed the unit open, allowing a bright white light and thin trails of vapour to pool out of the container. Her eyes quickly glossed over the surprisingly well stocked unit until she settled on her quarry. She picked up a large protein pouches and slid the unit shut. Maul watched her intently as Ahsoka struggled back to her seat, the black cloak fluttering around her like a dark butterfly. Ahsoka ignored his hard look as she held out the protein drink.

“I know that you need to eat.”

Maul snorted and his hard brown softened slightly. “That is very astute of you” he muttered and took the shake out of her hand.

“Hey, I was the one feeding you when you were my _prisoner_ ” Ahsoka smirked.

“Oh how very droll. You may have been in Kenobi’s lineage, but you don’t have a mark of his insufferable wit.”

“I think you just need a sense of humour.”

Maul scoffed and ripped off the lid of the shake. “You make it seem like you also have one.”

“I have a sense of humour.”

“You need a better one. Your supposed comedy is cheap.”

“Better than not having one at all” Ahsoka snarked.

Maul’s lip quirked up for half a second making Ahsoka blink in surprise but then it was gone. _One day he may smile, and I’ll have to record it to show Master Kenobi…_ She winced at that, Obi-wan was the very person who said to _get rid_ of Maul.

The following seven and a half hours went by quietly. Neither her nor Maul spoke unless it was about something relevant to their journey, with the exception of Maul showing her the refresher with its conjoining lavatory. Ahsoka immediately pounced at the opportunity to clean herself and shut herself into the cramped room.

For the first time in over a week Ahsoka washed her clothes. There was some unknown engineering genius who attached a laundry cleaning mechanism right next to the refresher, and they received her sincere thanks. It was with a malicious smile that the Togruta threw her bloodied and dirty clothes into it. But not the cloak. For some reason she didn’t want to clean it just yet.

“It’s perfectly good” she muttered and rubbed the thick cloth between her fingers. She carefully folded it and placed it on top of the sink. The water rained deliciously hot water that seeped into Ahsoka’s aching muscles, she examined herself carefully. Her shoulder no longer ached, and she tested out a few careful stretches, smiling happily as her shoulder moved freely without pain. However, her ribs and hip were another matter. Her ribs were still stained in a huge inky blue stain and her leg was not much better, in fact the huge bruise covering much of it matched her ribs perfectly.

“It won’t take long to heal” she said to herself and finished cleaning her lekku. Her clothes were no longer tight and itchy but warm and so comfortable as she slipped into them. _A ship with a proper laundry function, perfection._ She wrapped the cloak around her again and ventured out into the cockpit.

Sometime later Maul convinced her to sleep some more before they arrived.

“That planet is treacherous. You will very likely break your hip if you don’t take time now to recover. Even my legs are not safe from the swamp.”

There was only three hours of space travel left, so Ahsoka agreed and shuffled towards the private quarters. The door slid shut with a hiss and Ahsoka eyed the bed warily. Something didn’t sit right with her sleeping in a bed that Maul had. She could almost see him lying on his side, his bright eyes staring into the dark unblinking. She shook her head, unnerved by the image.

“It’s fine it’s just a bed…”

She awkwardly lowered herself onto the raised platform and rested her face against the pillow. _Of course it’s just a bed-_ A familiar smell wafted across her nose. Grass, iron and something else. It was his, of course it was his. Yet Ahsoka, holding the cloak around her body, couldn’t find the energy to move or care. Ahsoka breathed in deeply and let her hand rest on the pillow by her head. _I wonder if you will sing again…_ It would be another invasion of his privacy, a third one considering the first time he sang and how she saw the lake that was his mind when he was having nightmares.

 _Who knows, I just woke up. I may have imagined that it sounded that nice._ Sleep came peacefully and quietly. Since she last woke, and the conversations they shared, Ahsoka became more at ease with Maul’s presence nearby. It was almost comforting.

It felt similar to when it would be just Ahsoka and Rex, left with only themselves to trust surrounded by droids or worse. But it also wasn’t like her and Rex at all. Neither was it like the feeling she had with Anakin or Obi-wan, always mentors never true equals. It was foreign and it was scary, but its what she had. _Oh if you were here Rex,_ Ahsoka sighed. _I hope you are okay. I hope I will see you again._ She had a strange and so welcome feeling that he was somewhere in the universe surviving all of it.

Ahsoka did not recall falling asleep, but when the ship jolted suddenly, her eyes snapped open like blinds.

“Maul?” Ahsoka said as she shuffled out of the private quarters.

Maul spun in his chair and gestured out the viewing window grandly. “We have arrived Lady Tano.”

Ahsoka limped closer and gazed upon the dark green planet that was suspended before them like a god. _It feels…Old._ Even from here she felt the planet ooze power that beckoned the Force flowing in her closer. A shiver went up her spine and Ahsoka’s eyes widened with excitement. “Do you feel it?” she asked.

“Yes. I feel drawn into it like a boat unanchored in the tide. It’s ancient! And yet so dark…”

Ahsoka glanced to Maul who leaned forwards in his seat like a menacing hawk. _I wonder if he feels more drawn to this planet then I do._

“I thought darkness was your specialty?”

“Indeed it is” Maul nodded. “But this feels something very much other…”

 _You are not wrong._ Ahsoka sat herself in the co-pilots seat and leaned forwards eagerly. _I wonder what I will learn here. This better not be like Mortis._ The Force thrummed through her veins and for the first time in weeks, Ahsoka felt the thrill of excitement set her on edge. For the first time in weeks she may just have an answer for everything. Not just the connection between her and Maul. But maybe understanding the fates of Anakin, Plo-koon, Master Yoda.

It may even give her Sidious.

The swamps of Dagobah pulled them into its marshes, woods and mires and a darkness claimed them both. Rivers and streams of dark inky waters ran beneath them all, their pools deceptively still but for the faint murmur of water. The light was a mere memory for those that live in the shadow of the woods roots and trunks. The air heavier, wetter and more used. Noises became muffled and ominous, strange cries shrieking out from the hidden corners of the swamp heralded them in. They almost seem to say, _“You are lost”_.

Everything but the Force felt numb here. As The two stepped off the shuttle the swamp sunk into them from all around. “This place feels…Alive” Ahsoka said softly. “Like the earth is aware of us.” 

“It may very well be” Maul muttered; the pupils of his eyes blown wide gleaming like the dark water beneath their feet. Ahsoka blinked repeatedly and carefully rubbed her eyes, but even her Togruta eyes could scarcely see a thing. If it wasn’t for the red of Maul’s skin or the thing band of gold in his eyes, then she would have lost him to the darkness.

Something within the Force pulled Ahsoka to the side and beckoned her towards the dark gnarled arms of the swamp forest.

“I feel like we have to go that way” Maul said.

“Yes. I think so too.”

They packed their supplies into dark canvas bags Maul produced, the ship was shut down against the bough of a massive tree. Carefully the two ripped rotten wood, sodden algae and large dark green leaves from the grounds and began dressing the ship into a dense camouflage. It was so well blended in that there was no way anyone but her and Maul could find it.

For a few seconds, Maul tampered with the communicator at his wrist and plugged the ships coordinates in. “Well Lady Tano” Maul smooth voice turned her face towards him, and his burning eyes bored into her own. “Let us see what the swamps of Dagobah can teach us.” A familiar hiss and crackle sang in the air and two beams of menacing red light bloomed in the woods. Ahsoka took a quick step back and watched warily as Maul turned, holding his lightsaber in front as he slunk forwards where the Force called for them.

Breathing deeply, Ahsoka ignited the saber of the little girl and held the blue saber before her as she followed the half Sith down the swamp. But a shroud of unease was wrapped around her shoulder. Looking over her shoulders constantly, even as she waded through water and trees alike, the half Jedi searched for an enemy. Even Maul paused constantly and held his saber aloft as if challenging some unknown predator.

Their paranoia was not just nerves being put on the knife edge, or the strange companionship the two shared. In the black and tangled branches and roots of the swamp, something watched the in darkness.

And then it began to get closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look...maybe not plot heavy but trust me that shit picks up next chapter cross my heart. But they NEEDED a real conversation that wasn't arguing or filled with distrust and negative feelings. We need bonding and friendship in this house mam. But i hope you enjoy the little MaulSoka snippets in there <3
> 
> See you soon (probably in 2 weeks)!
> 
> P.s. Thank you for the comments and kudos they mean everything to me!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god I'm so sorry it took this long for an update! My computer crashed and I had to re-write A LOT of the content that was lost :( This chapter is very plot related like I promised, and there is so much Maulsoka coming next chapter!
> 
> Either way, as some of you predicted, a certain character pops up now, and will be around for a lot of chapters to come ;)
> 
> Enjoy, and thank you for all the comments and kudos, I love it so much <3

There was no light from suns, stars or moons in Dagobah, any light or glimmer seen in the depths was from the flash of bioluminescence here, the wink of reflection there. Or the bright glows of Jedi and Sith weapons that seemingly floated through the darkness. With no light there was no telling how long the spent struggling through the undergrowth of the living planet. Carrying herself and her injuries Ahsoka tried to follow Maul exactly where he walked as the half Sith appeared so at home within the dangers and darkness. The motley of his dark clothes and red turning black skin made for the perfect camouflage in the depths.

Not so for the Togruta. She held the light blue saber high above her head, the glow pressing against the cloying darkness. Shrill cries and thundering roars boomed through the swamp and even as Ahsoka spun left and right she could not see them if her life depended on it. The only thing that she could trust her eyes to follow was the bright red glow of Maul’s saber before him. The luck they had landing on the sturdy surface of roots and tree was not to be savoured when the ground turned into the treacherous loose vines and plants sitting on stagnant water. For Ahsoka this was no true issue apart from the almost sulphuric smell that oozed off the water. For Maul it was something other entirely.

The waters murmured unspoken promises of the things to be found in their depths. More than just the small pieces of wood stuck in the wrong place of his cybernetic legs or the guarantee of algae jamming itself into the minute cogs that made his lower body tick. The weight alone of such equipment was enough to promise a one-way trip down to the bottom of the swamp. He could certainly survive that once or twice. But if he fell down multiple times…Who knows what would take interest in the half Sith floundering in the depths. Ahsoka froze when Maul suddenly stopped on the edge of a tree root. Pausing she listened and a loud rumble of water rushed all around them. Holding her saber high, she peered into the darkness and with the glow of red and blue alike, she saw before the her a rushing matrix of small hidden lakes and fast rivers running deep.

Maul grunted and peered into the darkness. “We must go around…” he hissed.

Ahsoka just nodded and remained silent. _Don’t walk me into quicksand…_ she thought.

Still they struggled. Left and right Ahsoka turned, her bad leg trembling in pain after so long struggling in the dark. All the while something menacing in the dark stalked them. _And I thought my eyes were perfect to see in the dark…_ Casting her gaze around, the half Jedi took a step forwards only for her good leg to collapse through the soft wood in a sickening crunch that rung in her montrals. Gasping, Ahsoka slammed her saber down as she collapsed sending up a shower of sparks as the saber drove deeply into the rotten wood. “Shit!” she swore under her breath, cringing away from the stinging bits of light. Her ribs and hip pulsed with pain and for a long moment, Ahsoka lay there gasping against the roots of the trees.

Footsteps thudded towards her and two booted durasteel legs strode in front of her face followed by a red glow bleeding against the ground.

“Maul, is there any other way?” Ahsoka gasped.

“Any other way for what?” his voice growled from above.

“Look at me!” Ahsoka nearly shouted. “I can hardly see, and this ground is filled with traps and pitfalls- “

Maul suddenly crouched down, and the red glow became a bright light before her eyes. “Be quiet!” he hissed. Ahsoka snapped her head up and watched his glowing eyes flow left and right around him. A chill went up her spine as she realized he was _looking_ for something.

“We are being watched. Something has been following us for a while now, I am rather sick of it” he whispered.

The half Jedi looked around her, but there was nothing to see within the shadows. Slowly, Ahsoka pulled her bad leg gently out of the rotten hole and leaned to the side. “This planet was supposed to be uninhabited…” she said softly.

“Supposedly” Maul muttered. “Now get up. And be quiet.”

“What does it matter if someone or something following us can hear this?” Ahsoka said. “These sabers are what’s giving us away!”

“Very well, let us turn them off, shall we?” before Ahsoka could say no, Maul pressed his thumb into his saber, and the world went dark except for the last lonely glow of blue light coming from Ahsoka’s hand.

“What do you expect me to do? It’s impossible to see without this and if I fall again- “

“Then I will have to tolerate guiding you it would seem. Now turn that thing off and get up” Maul reached out and roughly grabbed her by the arm as he pulled her up from the ground, forcing Ahsoka to bite her tongue rather than cry out. “Turn it off now!”

Maul’s large golden eyes reflected the cold light coming from the saber and glowed like cat’s eyes deep into her own. Ahsoka gaped and her thumb hesitated against the trigger of the saber when the dark thing between their minds twitched unsettlingly. There were no secret thoughts between their minds, but only the hesitant sharing of feelings. _You must trust me!_ The feeling said. Ahsoka had ignored the person or people watching them from afar, but the foreigner in the depths of Dagobah seemed more intent in watching their strange interaction.

“Don’t make me regret this!” Ahsoka hissed. Maul blinked only once and quickly Ahsoka switched the saber off. Darkness flooded around the two and everything was hidden to again to the two unlikely companions. Maul’s grip of Ahsoka’s arm did not lessen as he drew her slightly closer towards him, as he did so the thing between their minds twitched as the half Sith sought contact between them. Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka closed her eyes and saw two golden ones look at her from within her mind.

 _“We will communicate like this. Don’t speak. I can see in the dark better than you clearly, but we will remain here to draw whatever it is out”_ his voice sounded like a shout at the end of a deep cave and echoed towards her.

 _“And how do we fight whatever the fuck it is in this darkness?”_ Ahsoka replied while gritting her teeth. As if sensing her frustration, Maul’s hand tightened around her arm and pulled her slightly closer. _“Your wounds and poor vision mean little right now.”_

_“Fighting in the dark surrounded in this fucking jungle means a lot though! We need to think about this practically!”_

_“Where is that fire and anger you spoke of Lady Tano?!”_ Maul’s thoughts shouted at her angrily. Ahsoka glared up towards his face but could just make out the smallest glint of his eyes and the dangerous silhouette of his horns. _“My brother would not quail before any opponent known or not!”_

“Well I am not your brother!” Ahsoka hissed out loud making Maul snort humourlessly. “And where I place my anger and my power will be with all those bastards with their hand in this war! With Sidious, with whoever Vader is!” A low and furious growl rumbled from above her and Ahsoka noticed how well it fit in here inside the underbelly of Dagobah. Ahsoka sighed and continued her message between their minds. _“I am concerned that we are wasting time and energy…”_

 _“There is no waste in learning something Lady Tano. And I_ know _that we will learn something here- “_

Maul’s thoughts cut off and Ahsoka felt him suddenly snap his head to the right, his fingers slightly digging into her upper arm. Ahsoka ignored his touch and their closeness as a sharp chill shot up her spine. The sounds of the swamp swirled around her montrals from braying calls of the animals to the rushing of water under their feet and around them. Through it all, Ahsoka could sense nothing else, no sound of a stranger following them, no brief flash of movement. And yet she knew that something was out there and getting closer. _We have no choice in it now…_

 _“Can you see whatever it is?”_ Ahsoka asked Maul.

Maul’s mind was a turbulence of predatory instinct and growing anticipation of the inevitable encounter. She could sense his palpable eagerness so much that if it weren’t for the pain in Ahsoka’s body grounding her, she would have believed it her own. After a handful of moments, the eyes within her mind glinted and his thoughts returned to her.

_“Not yet. But it is coming closer.”_

Ahsoka’s eyes widened a fraction and she bunched her hand into a tight fist. _Please don’t let it come to that…_ A fleeting memory flashed through her mind. Of a cold hallway flashing with bright red lights, of the clones flanking her on each side, blasters levelled at her head. And that little girl, always that little girl so close in her mind. Ahsoka’s fist brushed against the saber and a small jab of anger pierced her heart.

 _“Is there enough space around us if we must fight?”_ she asked. _“Or should we move?”_

_“…No. We stay here for now.”_

Ahsoka sighed but remained silent as Maul vigilantly looked across the unseen swamp, all the while a ball of anticipation and mild anxiety bunched tighter and tighter in her chest making her swallow. _I have been in so many fights, this is no different…_ And yet it was after Belderone. Still, Maul’s hand stayed on her arm, he was to guide her after all. He adjusted his grip slightly and Ahsoka swallowed as the rough leather scuffed against the exposed flesh of her arm. But the contact… it was oddly grounding. Closing her eyes, Ahsoka breathed in the cold damp air deeply and let it fill her lungs as much as her ribs would allow. It helped and strangely, Maul helped too.

Gently she probed the dark thing in her mind and was surprised that the connection between their minds wasn’t a cold stranger at this moment but a power source. She felt him there, a dark but burning presence sitting idly in that little corner. _I wonder what I feel like in his mind…_ That warmth crept into her head making him as present there as he was right next to her. For some reason, her wounds felt less painful, her limbs more powerful and keen interest filled her for a fight. A good and proper one. Ahsoka blinked a couple of times and idly rubbed her free hand up and down her other arm, stopping just before it touched his hand. _It is just an artificial feeling,_ she thought to herself. But it didn’t erase the feeling of safety she found in his arms as he carried her from that prison on Belderone. _I wonder if he feels different too…When we are like this. Probably not knowing who he is,_ Ahsoka thought to herself.

The dark and warm thing in her mind twitched suddenly. _“It is nearly here…”_ Maul’s voice whispered in her mind.

Jolting, Ahsoka’s hand immediately pulled itself away from her arm where she was so close to touching his hand that held her firmly and leaned away from him. _“How much time do we have?”_ she thought quickly, ignoring her flushed face and hoping against hope that Maul couldn’t detect the burning embarrassment she felt.

 _“I- “_ Maul froze and Ahsoka’s hand gripped her saber lightly when everything happened at once. The half Sith spun suddenly in a flourish, throwing his hand off Ahsoka while the other ignited the two deadly beams of light. Immediately the world brightened by a few meters illuminating the tangled pattern of roots and soft ground by rushing water. Ahsoka’s hand spun and immediately a beam of blue light mingled with the red, but despite it all she could see no person or thing in the wilderness.

“Who’s there?!” she shouted. Maul adjusted himself next to her and a cold bead of sweat ran down her back. Nothing responded and the denizens of the swamp shouted their cries for a second more before they all went silent. The lump in Ahsoka’s chest bunched as not a single thing moved within the swamp and the darkness felt all the more oppressive like a suffocating blanket.

Maul hissed under his breath and strode forwards, his heavy durasteel legs booming on the heavy wood. With a twist of his head, one large leg extended once more before slamming against the roots and with it, a massive and invisible wall of Force hurled out into the unknown like a hurricane. Water, plants and detritus of all types flew in a flurry like storm, hastily, Ahsoka pulled her saber towards her face defensively as tree limbs cracked and groaned under the force of Maul’s wrath. The dark thing in her mind grew heavy as she watched and some cold instinct encouraged her to lift her hand, to pour her anger into the Force and add her power to his own. She angrily shoved the feeling aside and limped over to the half Sith as his attack withered out of existence and the swamp settled.

“I thought you wanted to learn, not kill it!” Ahsoka hissed.

“If it died so easily there is nothing useful to learn- “

An ear-piercing crack boomed around the swamp as something ripped through the trees in front of them. Ahsoka and Maul froze, their sabers held in a half-completed stance when she _felt_ something rush towards them, carrying with it a flurry of splinters. Her arms snapped up around her face protecting it from the sharp shrapnel that impaled itself on her armoured gloves and exposed biceps. A guttural roar of pain shouted next to her then abruptly cut off, but Ahsoka didn’t have time to process it. _That- that must have been the Force! But it should’ve blasted me away-_ Ahsoka turned towards where Maul was, where he stood not a moment ago with his dual saber held in front of him. But he was gone. All that remained of his presence was the deep grooves his boots cut into the wood, and the charred holes where his lightsaber had burned.

“MAUL?!” Ahsoka shouted out and spun behind her. But there was nothing, only the murmur of water and the oppressive darkness that surrounded them constantly… and the barely visible wreckage as something or _someone_ was thrown with great speed into the darkness. “MAUL- “she screamed again but cut herself off suddenly. _He was once a Sith lord he will be fine, something like that can’t take him out!_ Furiously, Ahsoka turned back to the enemy before her and yanked her saber protectively to her side. Her leg spasmed in pain but she bit her lip and ignored it as she sunk into her sixth form stance. “You will need more than the Force to- “

“Aligned with the darkside the Padawan has, hm?” a strangely familiar voice said from the dark.

“What?” Ahsoka gasped and raised her head. _That voice, I swear that is his voice…But all the Jedi are dead- I…._

“Deep is the darkside in my lineage it seems. Dooku first, loyal he once was yes. Once strong in the light. Skywalker the second, the darkside lingering by him always. And you. The final one perhaps, hm? What has happened Padawan Ahsoka?” A crackle of electricity filled the air and a bright piercing beacon of green light burned from above in the safety of the largest tree branches. It hummed as the figure brought it forwards and levelled it down to her with all the intent to attack. Ahsoka’s heart dropped to her stomach suddenly.

“Master Yoda?!” Ahsoka gasped. Her leg trembled against the roots and her raised saber fell uselessly to the ground. “I thought- I thought you had all died…” her voice began to crack. “I looked for you, I searched for you in the Force! I couldn’t see you; I couldn’t feel you anywhere!”

“Much is lost. Lost you were to us too. Watched you land in this fascinating swamp I did. Relieved that perhaps some of our youngest escaped Sidious’s plan…But with the Sith you are. Why have you aligned with the Sith, young Ahsoka?”

“No, no! Master I’ve done none of those things! I can explain. “Ahsoka held her hands out desperately. “When I captured- “A rumbling boom rolled through the trees and out of the undergrowth. Maul leapt upwards, his blood red dual saber spinning parallel to his body with a twisted snarl pulling his face into a beastly mask. “MAUL- “Ahsoka began but the half Sith was moving too quickly.

Yoda jumped in an elegant arc and met Maul in the air, their sabers colliding in an explosion of red and green fire. Their sabers spun in a flurry before the two even began to fall while the swamp lit up with the bright flashes of light. Desperately Ahsoka ignored the pain in her side and snatched her saber from the ground before she rushed over to the two. The dark thing between both half Jedi and half Sith twitched like a beast in pain and all the Ahsoka could sense was that Maul was in danger. And despite it all, she could not allow harm to befall him. She tried to run just as Maul began to fall to the swamp floor, his durasteel boots slamming into the ground. Yoda landed poised before the two and held his saber aloft above him, dangerous and waiting. With a snarl, Maul gathered his strength and lunged forwards with a scathing blow down upon the old master. Though his saber was not met with the sparking fray of green against red, but a cold blue light snapped up and his own strike. Ahsoka instantly leapt forwards and before she thought the saber was once more in her hands, with an underhand strike she deftly stopped Maul’s blow before it could fall. Maul snarled in rage and jumped back from both Ahsoka and Yoda, his saber guarded across his front dangerously.

“Stop fighting!” Ahsoka yelled at him. “You must stop!”

The thing within her mind twitched and she felt those golden eyes she was staring into before her suddenly light up inside her mind. Still foreign, still unused to his mind becoming one with hers, she shuddered but immediately grasped at the thing back.

_“This is not a fight you can win!”_

His anger washed over her like a wave. _“He drew his saber! If he wishes for death, he shall meet it here!”_

Instantly, Ahsoka spun to her oldest master and he met her eyes, his gaze flickering between the two of them curiously. “Master” Ahsoka began. “Let me explain! I do not wish to fight.”

“Fight you do not wish, but come here you do, with a Sith lord. Explain you must, never before has Jedi aligned with Sith…”

“Yes, but master I am no Jedi. And he is no Sith.” Slowly she sunk to her knees awkwardly and holstered the saber once more by her side, the blue light leaving the swamp. “I have never been more grateful to see anyone! I thought all the Jedi…All those aligned with the light had died. I do not want another light to vanish from the Force.”

Yoda’s piercing gaze studied her sombrely and it felt like it peered into the depths of her mind and soul. Slowly his searching look moved away from the half Jedi and fell upon the half Sith, and it became a bright and hard look she rarely saw upon his old face. “Extreme, the reasons are for you to align with one whose hands carry much blood. Explain you must. Strike you down, young Ahsoka, I wish not.”

The unsaid “but I will” sent another shiver down her back. Slowly, Ahsoka bowed her head respectfully before the elder. _“Don’t do anything!”_ she hissed at Maul through her mind. The half Sith growled behind her once more and neither disengaged his saber or eased his form. Yet he remained still and waiting, like a patient predator to find his chance. _“He could give us the answers we seek.”_

_“This senile frog?! He looks feeble and addled from all the swamp slime he has eaten!”_

Anger burned in her mid and she shot Maul a dangerous look over her shoulder. _“Don’t you disrespect him! He just threw you yards into the swamp with a bat of his eye! Be quiet and let me speak!”_ with that, Ahsoka released the dark thing in her mind and Maul’s golden eyes winked out of existence as she turned back to the old master.

“Something has happened, Master. I promise you; I promise on my own life that I have not fallen to the darkside. We have come to Dagobah because something strange has happened within the Force.”

“Strange hmm?” Yoda began, his saber remaining high, ready for an attack. “More than just strange has happened in the last few weeks young Ahsoka. Gone is the balance in the Force, gone is nearly all light. Darkness there is, paramount within the Force. All that we were is gone. Kit Fitso, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Mace Windu, _Plo-Koon_ and so many others. Felt them I did, felt them as you would not when their life vanished from this plane of existence.”

“Few are left, few who live to challenge the darkside, yes. Yet stand here you do, stand here with one who embodies the darkside.” Yoda finished. “Grave and strange indeed hmm? Beyond this, what troubles have _you_ to align yourself with such a man?”

Greif washed anew over Ahsoka not for Mace Windu, maybe not even for all the other masters who she knew so little of, in their vacantness or aloofness, sometimes even both. But Plo-Koon, was neither of any. He was the first of the Jedi she knew, respected and even loved despite his silence in her ruining trial. It was not a Jedi’s right to attach themselves to others. But how could she not?

“I know…I know Master, believe me. Maul and I cannot separate until we know what it that is happening between us.”

Yoda’s brow lowered into a frown and he glanced back over at Maul. “Mind tricks of the Sith.”

“No, Maul and I- “Ahsoka began.

“ _I_ will speak for myself!” the half Sith snarled from behind her. His saber swished and echoed as he strode forwards until his durasteel boots slammed down next to Ahsoka. “You _Jedi_ are fond of those little mind games you play with your pawns, I would not lower myself to your own levels, frog!” Maul turned and looked down and the kneeling half Jedi. “Your old masters prided themselves with learning only what they wished to know and overlooked any and all knowledge that proves distasteful” he spat.

“I do not trust this _Jedi._ I do not trust you” he growled down at Yoda, his eyes burning at the old master. “We came here because there is a connection binding myself to this one here” he nodded down at Ahsoka. “Neither of us understand it, neither of us want it.”

“Distasteful hmm? Look at your own actions, you must. See for yourself distastefulness and what it is yes.” The old Jedi replied and then he turned back to Ahsoka. “Talk alone, you and I must, young Ahsoka. Not in a Sith’s presence.”

“No longer a Sith…” Ahsoka muttered, but slowly she raised herself to her feet and approached Yoda. “I am grateful to talk. I will make everything clear; I promise.” She looked back at Maul and gave him a stern look. The half Sith scowled at her and once more she felt him touch the bond between their minds and his eyes lit up anew within her.

 _“I will talk with Yoda alone, stay here.”_ She told him.

 _“How can I trust that you will not betray me?!”_ Maul hissed at her. _“I will not allow you to speak with him alone!”_

 _“You have no damn choice Maul!”_ Ahsoka glared at him. _“This is beyond both of us and much to complex. If I do not explain I guarantee_ he _will fight me just as much you. And if it bothers you so much perhaps Yoda was right. Meditate one all the distasteful actions you too have on your head!”_ With that Ahsoka pulled away from the bond and turned back to the old master.

“Please, let us talk” she said. “Where shall we go?”

Yoda hummed to himself and lowered his saber until touched the sodden roots at his feet. “Come” he intoned and with that he turned back to his trees and leaped into their dark branches. Ahsoka winced and gathered herself to follow, but before she did, she turned back towards the half Sith.

“I will not betray you. I owe you that much.” She did not wait for his reply and jumped up into the old trees. As she flew, she could feel Maul’s eyes following her back, and through their connection she was surprised to sense out of all things, fear. _He really thinks I will abandon him…_ it stung that he had so little faith. As she landed the impact sent a shuddering wave of pain up her leg and her ribs making her hiss. But there was no stopping, she must follow the green lightsaber that bobbed in the distance. The branches flew beneath her feet, and slowly the pain in her hip became a little for tolerable as she stretched the tight muscles. Very soon the glow of the green saber became too distant for her eyes to follow in the dark and quickly, Ahsoka ignited the blue in her haste to follow. Less than an hour had passed before suddenly the green saber in the distance stopped on the largest of trees in the overcrowded swamp. Ahsoka jumped the final distance and landed solidly on the branch next to Yoda, her breath wheezing out of her lungs.

“Injured you are” Yoda said calmly, “here and here” he directed his saber at her hip and ribs. “Away from the Sith, we are. Do this to you, did he?”

“What?” Ahsoka panted and clutched her aching ribs with one arm and holding the blue saber to her side with the other. His words processed in her montrals and quickly her eyes widened. “No, no he definitely did not do this. Clones did. He stopped them and…saved me.” Ahsoka looked down with shame at her feet and the saber drooped to her side.

“Hmm, many questions I have. You do too I am sure. Your saber, that is not” he pointed at the slim saber hilt in her hand. “Recognise it I do as Padawan Seet-Ryka’s. Ask I will how you know hold it, however! More urgent questions need answers first!”

 _Seet-Ryka, that is her name._ Ahsoka held the saber to her chest and the girl in the prisons brown eyes looked at her from within her memories. “…What do you want to know?” she whispered.

“How is it you work for Maul hm?”

“Work for him?” Ahsoka asked incredulously. “No, I _do not_ work for him at all, no – “

“Then why are you working together?”

“We…On Mandalore, both of us fought and it resulted in me capturing him. But before I did, he told me things, he told me of Sidious, of the end of the Jedi…” Ahsoka’s voice began to waver and painfully she drew in a breath. “Of Anakin.” 

“He knew? How did he know, hm? Unless he is working for Sidious still, yes” Yoda said, his face still, no longer creased with smiles and knowing looks.

“No, Maul is terrified of Sidious!” Ahsoka said. “That is something that has been made abundantly clear to me since the time I have known him.”

“Know him?” Yoda levelled a strange look up at Ahsoka. “To know a Sith is a dangerous thing. Obi-wan Kenobi suffered much from Maul and he knows little. Lead to the darkside knowing a Sith may- “

Anger flared inside Ahsoka and her hands became fists at her side. “I believe you are forgetting how much Maul has suffered too. Tell me did you hear about the massacre of the Dathomirians?! Where was the Jedi then?!”

“At war we were- “

“It was the Separatists; it was Sidious that did that! You yourself have said time and time again that the Jedi are Peacekeepers before war leaders before a legion!”

“Excuse Maul’s crimes on Mandalore would you to?”

“Maul overthrew and useless government that overlooked the safety of its citizens for a higher and unachievable ideology of complete and utter peace in a time of war! Do I excuse his actions? Absolutely not. Which is why I personally went to stop him because the Jedi. The peacekeepers of the galaxy would not!

“You and Obi-wan, because yes I spoke to him weeks ago! You both claim I’m in danger of falling to the darkside by just being around Maul and if that is true then you too are in danger from knowing Dooku so well!” Ahsoka growled, her voice becoming darker and darker. “Or knowing Anakin so well. Tell me how is it that the ‘Chosen One’ fell to the darkside? Perhaps due to the negligence on the Jedi council?! How is it that my Master had to die, when his life, his soul could’ve been saved?!”

Yoda’s hard gaze softened with grief and he looked down at branches beneath his feet for a time. “Through the council these mistakes are on our hearts young Ahsoka. We saw…Yet we did not want to believe, especially under the eye of Obi-wan. Sidious, Palpatine, he manipulated us all. Peacekeepers we are, young one. If there were any lives I could’ve saved, Skywalker’s it would’ve been. Grieve, I do as much yourself. So much is now lost…”

Ahsoka’s anger faded slightly and she gently released her hands at her side. “I am sorry for my anger, Master. So much has happened and I feel…I am not the person I once was.”

“No, you are not.” Yoda said simply. “See you before me, I do. In danger you are of the darkside possessing you young one. Perhaps that is the pure balance you possess.” Ahsoka opened her mouth to protest but Yoda raised his three fingered hand peacefully. “I am sorry for my harsh words too young one, your wounds ail you. Let us sit as we once did, yes?”

Ahsoka closed her mouth and nodded. _How much should I tell you? Too much that you do not like and I may have to fight…_ Though slowly, the half Jedi lowered herself to the sodden branch beneath her, the dark clock around her shoulders flaring. Yoda seated himself too and placed his hands upon his knees. “Tell you I will, all that happened and that I know. My questions you must answer afterwards.” Ahsoka nodded and then he began. His tale aligned with Ahsoka’s in the beginning. The turning of the Clones, the massacre of the Jedi by the hand of their friends. She did not stop the tears that budded in her eyes, as he spoke of all the lights going out within the Force. Of the pain that he felt within him.

“…Fled I did, back to Coruscant when I heard of the councils end. Of Skywalkers actions. There I confronted Palpatine, though Palpatine he was no longer. Fight we did, Sidious and I. loose I did.” Yoda sighed. “Escape into exile here on this beautiful planet was my only choice. Become clear to me, the losses we suffered. Kenobi and you are the only ones I know that survived. But others there must be. We must trust the Force that there are others.”

Ahsoka stared off into the pitch of the swamp, and listened to the rushing water, the swish of trees the cries of unknown animals in the dark. She felt cold, she felt cold everywhere. “On Belderone” Ahsoka began. “I found the young Padawan that used to own this saber. She was held by the Imperial Storm Troopers, our brothers in arms.”

Yoda nodded for her to continue. “On Belderone, it was there that Maul and I initially parted ways. In truth he saved my life from our Clones when they turned against us, after they heard the command ‘execute order 66’” Ahsoka took a deep breath as she remembered Rex yelling her name as she was dragged away. “We travelled to the Outer Rim, hoping Sidious’ new empire did not stretch that far. I had a message from master Kenobi to abandon him somewhere, anywhere. I did…But it felt wrong to me.”

“Why is that?”

“…Something in the Force was telling me not too, and then I was beginning to notice the start of this thing we both share. He left, he did not like it, but he did. There in the city I heard word of a Padawan being held captive and her master in hiding on the planet. So, you were right…Others did survive.” The rest came pouring out. Her failure at trying to save the girl, her brutal murder before her eyes. And finally, Ahsoka reaching out to the strange thing she shared with Maul, and him saving her life for a second time. As the words left her more and more of her strength leeched itself from her body until she sat slouched.

Yoda’s eyes were alight with pain. It glowed in the light of their sabers. “Remember Seet-Ryka I do, watch her collect her kyber crystal and build this saber I did. Honour her, young Ahsoka. Hold her saber with pride and justice equally.”

“I will master” Ahsoka whispered. “We came here to Dagobah because neither of us understand what this thing is. I promise you it is not a creation of Maul, I can look just as easily into his mind as he can me, I can feel it when we reach out to each other. I would instantly know if he intended harm.”

“Hmm” Yoda tapped his chin. “Design of the Force this is, for reasons I cannot understand. The Force it may have been to guide you both here. Tell me. Do you trust this man?”

Ahsoka paused and her mind slinked away to all her memories of the half Sith. Maul carrying her out of the prison, Maul tending to her wounds. Maul terrified and breaking to pieces on the escape shuttle. Maul singing. “I do believe that out of all the Jedi I know him the best, which even now is saying very little…But he is not at all what I expected, but also exactly who I thought he was. I trust him not to betray me, and he trusts me not to betray him.”

A troubled and tense feeling bundled in her stomach, and for the rest she could not met Yoda’s eyes. “I…Think he has no one else to turn to. He told me things about his life because I asked. He was sold to Sidious by his own mother when he was a baby, he has known nothing but that _man’s_ treatment” she spat the word. “I’ve seen sides to him I never expected, and I seen growth. Before we all knew he hated the Jedi, yet when I confronted him on Mandalore, he made it clear he did not want the order dead…Only Obi-wan and Anakin.”

“Because of all this, master” Ahsoka lowered her head even further and the tight ball in her stomach became an agonizing knot. “I will not abandon him. I do not think I can because of this thing anymore.” Yoda was silent for a long time, and Ahsoka had to force her head up to meet his eyes. _I am no longer a Jedi. I must make my own decisions even if you will fight me because of it._ “I cannot kill him…But I can stop him becoming the person we fear him to be.”

“Say that you do, as if he has already changed.”

“All of us are capable of change. You said so yourself by looking at me.” Maul’s song whispered its words in her mind. The beauty of it, the power behind it. “Please help us master.”

Yoda frowned and immediately got to his feet, even when standing the old master did not even stand equal to her height. “Know not the complexities of this bond you an he share. And trust him I do not.”

“Neither do I.”

“Contradict yourself you do.”

“I trust him to not kill me or betray me. Everything else I will not even consider.”

“Allow him to know you, you must not. Young Ahsoka, you have found this bond in a time of great grief and suffering, yes. Will of the Force it may be, but guard yourself you must.” Yoda intoned at her gravely.

The knot within Ahsoka loosened slightly. “Master, what are you saying?” she asked quietly. She didn’t dare to hope.

“Carry within you, the last of the Jedi teachings. Carry within you, the life of the Sister. Decide I have, on what to do” Yoda lifted his saber and Ahsoka’s heart raced in her chest with fear. Immediately she felt Maul reach to their bond as he felt her fear reach him, and she forced herself to ignore it. With a click, Yoda disengaged his saber and the green light left the darkness of the swamp. “Help you I will, young Ahsoka. Help both of you, I must. The Force allows this bond, one with the Force we all must be.”

Ahsoka gasped with relief and held her body up with the trembling strength of her hands. “Thank you!” she whispered. “Thank you so much!”

“Ah young one” Yoda said softly. She felt his old, gnarled hand lower itself into the dip between her montrals gently, the warmth of his hand warming the bone. “Never would I cut you down. Few of us are left, fewer with so much good within. Best of us you are and trust the Force you do, so I will trust you too.”

“Thank you master. Thank you” Ahsoka gasped and with a trembling hand she reached up and clasped the old master’s forearm.

Yoda chortled and lowered himself before her again. “Happy I am, to see you, and respectful to elders you remain.”

“Ha!” Ahsoka laughed for the first time in what felt like years. A pained grin crossed her face and she leaned into the touch even more. “I don’t think I was known for that master.”

The two stayed there for a while in the treetops of Dagobah. And for a brief while, Ahsoka almost had a feeling of nostalgia, like it was the two of them back on Coruscant meditating. Maybe it was the Force guiding both she and Maul to this planet. Some part of her was tempted to reach out to maul and tell him what she and Yoda spoke of, but she knew that he would only demand answers to any questions he had.

 _Yoda is alive!_ She thought. And no small amount of hope burned anew in her chest. _Maybe the three of us can stop Sidious…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maul: Who is this green frog?
> 
> So yoda is not yet ketamine yoda we all love but to be fair he has only been on Dagobah for a few weeks give it time. and PLOT, PLOT, PLOT! It took me a very long time to write this chapter and Yoda's dialogue was really tricky especially editing what he says into how he would actually say. So please forgive me if he doesn't sound exactly as he does in the movies, I will get better with time. By the way...Next chapter is one of the chapters that has been in my head since day one. I'm going to say now it will be dark. A lot of Maulsoka but dark. (And no they aren't fighting, its other things...)
> 
> Either way thank you guys for staying with me this far, it means a lot to me!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10, we made it to the double digits! Now look, I am just going to give a warning at the start here. This chapter is dark around the end and I will say there is mild body horror and some graphic descriptions. I hope your all fine with this, it's not too bad honestly but it is about a certain character...
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! The chapter is 12000 words long as a treat for chapter 10!

Ahsoka landed alone on the dark roots of the swamp with a slight smile to her face and the red light of Maul’s saber to greet her. The pain lanced up her hip and ribs again, but it was numbed by the hope and happiness burning in her chest. Maul stood from his meditative position as she landed and eyed her critically. “You took your time” he grumbled and looked pointedly at her saber, alight in her hands. “Decided to use that against me, with your frog master to help you?”

Ahsoka scoffed and shook her head. “No” she said. “Yoda is going to help us.”

Maul blinked in surprise and his tattooed face scowled. “…For once I cannot tell if you’re lying Lady Tano” his smooth voice rumbled.

“I’m not.”

“Helping you I can understand. You Jedi are nepotistic in your aid. He has absolutely no reason to help me, nor do I desire his help.”

Ahsoka’s slight smile faltered and with a sigh she limped towards him and his poised dual saber. “We came here to figure out what this thing in our minds is. Perhaps it is the will of the Force that has guided us so, surely you can see that!”

“You once said my vision is flawed, perhaps turn that cunning perception onto yourself” Maul said and turned his back to her.

“My vision is not _flawed_. And clearly yours is not either” Ahsoka limped to his side. “We need all the help we can get Maul.”

“That is a matter of opinion!”

_I should have spoken to him before I accepted Yoda’s help._

“Besides, we are working _together_ ” Maul continued as if he read her mind. “Did you think I would ever agree on accepting charity from _fallen_ Jedi?!”

“It was either that or risk a fight with him that I doubt both of us could win” Ahsoka said. “Yoda is one of the strongest I have ever met with the Force. His connection to it and his clarity of vision will help us – “

“So, your choice was work with him or die?!”

Ahsoka hissed and marched around in front of the half Sith, meeting his dangerous glowing eyes. “I seem to recall you gave me that very same option not so long ago!” Maul opened his mouth in anger but Ahsoka cut in before he had a chance to say anything. “Yoda is on our side. He wants Sidious gone just as much as we do. Yes, he is Jedi, but I am not so different from that myself, but you still asked for my help.”

“ _Half_ Jedi” Maul hissed. “And please spare me your speech on the goodness of the Jedi, you no longer believe that, and I have never. Tell me if this were some fallen Sith lord we found here would you be so willing to accept his outstretched hand?”

Ahsoka rolled her stiff shoulder and looked at him flatly. “I accepted yours in the end, didn’t I?” A dangerous growl rumbled out of Maul’s throat and she hurried on. “But no. Luckily for us there is only _one_ Sith in this galaxy to worry about.”

“Need I remind you of _Vader_?”

Ahsoka shivered at the name and felt a cold chill settle in her stomach. “We are not discussing a Sith lord that may not even exist!”

“Oh, don’t be naïve, Lady Tano, it does not become you.”

“You yourself should stop being stubborn and forth right!” she glared. Maul’s jaw cracked as he ground his teeth together. Ahsoka held his gaze for a long, tense moment. _This is getting us nowhere…_ She forced herself to let her breath out in a heavy sigh and lowered her eyes to his chest. “Do you trust me Maul?”

Maul said nothing but dragged his durasteel foot on the ground slightly. Slowly, the half Sith looked at his saber and with a click, the red beams vanished into nothingness until all that was left was the blue glow of Ahsoka’s saber. “Do you?” he peered at her in the darkness, his pupils blown wide.

“I…” Ahsoka closed her mouth and looked to the side. _I know the words to say, but how easy is it to say it?_

“Thought so” Maul muttered and turned, his boots thudding onto the ground as he walked away.

“I trust you not to kill me” Ahsoka suddenly said and Maul froze. “I do not believe” Ahsoka said as she walked towards him. “That if someone saves my life twice, that they are actively trying to see me die.” _At least while I am useful,_ she stopped once more by his side and looked down at the saber in her hands. _Better to be said in the dark…_ Reluctantly, Ahsoka also disengaged the weapon and the two were plunged into utter darkness. “The first time you saved me, there was no connection between us at the time. Or we just did not notice it. Why did you save me? I had just captured you.”

She heard Maul turn towards her and was very aware of how close the two stood together. “We are both two sides of the same coin, Lady Tano.” Maul’s deep voice said. “We just face different directions.”

“You saved me based on our supposed similarities?”

“Name it ‘supposed’ if you wish but I made it clear on Mandalore our lives are not so different. I am not in the habit of saving lives - “

“No kidding.”

“- But.” Maul’s voice held a slight edge. “I am aware people save other’s lives for lesser reasons than just similarities…As foolish as it is. You say you trust me not to kill you? I’m afraid I do not quite share the same sentiment.”

“What?” Ahsoka frowned. _Seriously?! After all that has happened?!_ “I will not kill you Maul!”

“So, you have forgiven my ‘crimes’ that you sought me out for?”

“No!” Ahsoka snapped.

“Then what’s stopping you from utilizing your Jedi sense of justice and cutting me down…After we have dealt with Sidious?” Maul growled. “Strange coincidence that we landed on a planet of _your_ choice where one of the most powerful Jedi to ever exist happens to live as well.”

Ahsoka turned fully towards Maul and jabbed him in the chest. He hissed in anger and she felt him shift himself into a dangerous form. _We will not fight!_ She told herself. “Then that is coincidence alone! Remember when we fought, even when you begged me to kill you and I refused? When we parted ways on Belderone _you_ gave me that ultimatum of working with you or killing you. So, don’t blame me for thrusting those decisions on my hands!”

“That was before this _thing_ in our heads!”

“Then how about this?” Ahsoka took a deep breath. “One good turn deserves another. Even if I _wanted_ to kill you, and I don’t, I cannot because you saved my life. _And_ I agreed to a deal that we _work_ together until Sidious is gone! Call it a strong moral compass.” Maul scoffed but otherwise remained silent. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I have never trusted anyone before.”

“Not even your brother?”

“You do not know him! I barely knew him!”

 _That isn’t a no_ , Ahsoka thought. “But did you know he wouldn’t try to harm you?”

“Stop trying to dig an answer out of me, or I’ll make you stop!” he threatened.

“I answered your question. It’s only fair that you answer mine” she responded.

“Oh, we both know that fairness doesn’t exist in this universe. _Nothing_ in life is _fair_!”

“I’m trying to be. I think it’s only right if you try too.”

“Why do you so desperately want my answer to this?” Maul hissed and leaned over her. Even without touching the dark thing in her mind, Ahsoka could feel the anger oozing out of him.

_So, there is an answer…_

“Because if you don’t trust me, then none of this works” Ahsoka whispered in a determined growl. “It’s just us Maul! Just you and me against Sidious, his _empire_ …And whoever this Vader is. It doesn’t work unless we trust each other with the bare minimum at least. And better yet trusting me to make a decision for us.”

Maul was quiet, his teeth grinding against each other just like the war that was being fought inside his head. “And this begins with allowing that frog to push himself into _this_?!”

“ _Yoda._ If it were anyone else, I would say no.” _Only because you’re involved, Maul,_ she left unsaid.

Maul continued to think, and Ahsoka resigned herself to silence, anticipation brewing in her chest. _There may only be just us now. But there_ must _be others out there fighting or wanting to fight. There must be._ But aligning herself with Maul may mean she could never be part of that hypothetical rebellion…

The half Sith adjusted himself and Ahsoka’s eyes immediately snapped up at his shadowy silhouette. “You won’t betray me” he stated, not even lowering himself to question it.

“No. I won’t” Ahsoka said. _Unless you be the person you’ve made your life into._ A strange hiss whispered between the half Sith’s teeth and she felt Maul lean in even closer to her. _Don’t step back, not now!_ She told herself and squared her shoulders defiantly. _Don’t say anything…_ The time for Ahsoka to talk was over. She dimly became aware of a sudden presence watching over them from afar, hidden deeply in the trees above them. _Yoda…_ She scrunched her hand into a fist and hoped that Maul had not yet felt their observer in the dark.

“I do _not_ like this!” Maul suddenly growled. “I do not _trust_ that decrepit frog!”

“I can understand that- “

“But. I sense your emotions…You are not lying.” Ahsoka shook her head silently but a chilling hand grasped her stomach at the admission that he can so easily read her. _But that means I can read him too._ Yet all she felt was anger and a strange contemplativeness emanating from the half Sith. “If I even sense one fragment of deceit from him, then we leave! If I do not kill him first.”

_Yes, he is agreeing!_

“But you trust my decision?” she asked, her hand extended slightly.

“…For now,” Maul muttered. Ahsoka halted a sigh of relief that nearly escaped her mouth and drew back her extended hand. _This is going to work-_

“Now. Where is the frog?” he asked.

“ _Yoda!_ ” Ahsoka sighed and crossed her arms. “Please, even if it’s only when he is around, call him Yoda.”

A green light bloomed in the tops of the trees above them and immediately Ahsoka and Maul snapped their faces up to the new light. “Call me Yoda, yes” the old Jedi’s rusty voice called to them from above. “Jedi, you are not. Friend you are not, Maul. But frog I am not. Do not call me as such.”

Maul snarled, his tattoos flickering in the green light. His saber hissed itself into life and two red beams of light mixed with the green. “Maul!” Ahsoka hissed. “We agreed on this!”

“Then tell your _master_ to come down here and turn off his little saber!”

 _Fuck I hate being a mediator_ , Ahsoka thought and looked up to the old Jedi. “Master, It’s okay. Maul _won’t_ fight!” she shot the half Sith a scathing glare.

“Remains to be seen, it does!” Yoda called. Quickly the old master somersaulted over the branched and landed nimbly to the root below, only a handful of meters away from the two. “Agree to help, for Ahsoka I have” Yoda addressed Maul. “Agree with Ahsoka, that Sidious is the enemy. Sidious is your enemy too, I understand. Yes?”

Maul growled under his breath but said nothing.

“A saying there is. The enemy of my enemy is my ally. Ahsoka trusts you, she does.”

The half Jedi felt her face heat and she pointedly looked away from Maul. Even so she felt a hint of surprise from Maul, and his burning eyes quickly glance towards her. “Shut up…” she muttered.

“But trust you I do not. Concerned I am, that this…bond is of your doing. And to your advantage, yes” Yoda continued.

“Master- “Ahsoka began, but Yoda held a hand up, silencing her. Maul said nothing for a moment and yet his Saber slowly move in his hand, the red beams drawing across his body.

“Careful what you say, _frog_. My alliance goes no further than _Lady Tano_ here. My patience even less so.”

“A singular thing in common we have” Yoda nodded. “Waste time I will not. Now I must know where the two of you were travelling to. Yes.”

Ahsoka stepped forwards before Maul had the chance to speak. “Maul and I both feel strong pull in the Force in that direction” she pointed behind herself into the dark thicket of trees and mires. “But I have no idea what it guides us towards.”

“Hmm, in that area a heart tree there is. A sacred pool beneath its roots. Strong medical properties are there. Help your wounds they will, perhaps identify or purge this bond too” Yoda said. “The Force is strongest at that point. But neither dark nor light it is, something in between, something gray” Yoda looked pointedly at Maul. “It cannot be corrupted to my knowledge. Nor will I allow it.”

“You seem to think I seek to destroy anything _I_ find useful” Maul snarled.

“Hm, perhaps that is so.” A cunning grin stretched across Yoda’s old face. “Interested you are in the healing water too, I think. Grow back your legs, it will not.”

The dark thing in Ahsoka’s mind spasmed and she felt pure, absolute rage burn through it and into her mind. Wincing Ahsoka grasped at a montral, and turned towards Maul, who’s body near vibrated in his wrath.

“Maul – “

“Nor will it regrow that senile head once I separate it from your decrepit little body!” he shouted over her. Ahsoka’s eyes widened as the half Sith’s saber began its lunge towards the old master and instantly, Ahsoka leaped forwards, her own weapon drawn. Blue and red sabers collided in a shower or sparks and it took all the half Jedi’s strength to force his blade to move no further.

“Get away from me!” he roared, his voice shaking with bestial savagery.

“No” Ahsoka hissed back. A roar ripped through Maul’s throat making her montrals ring and his left hand shoved at her shoulder making Ahsoka stumble to the side. _No!_ Ahsoka began to fall but pivoted on her good leg. She snatched outwards and managed to grab Maul’s forearm just as he took a step forward. Burning eyes snapped towards her and a red sneer spread itself across Maul’s tattooed lips. Ahsoka grasped for the dark thing in her mind and it writhed in protest, but through it, she shouted her thoughts at him.

 _“He is testing you Maul!”_ she yelled across their minds. _“Do not give in to it!”_

 _“He dears to test me!”_ he shouted back, the volume and rage making Ahsoka wince. _“Let him try his little tests. I_ will _show him – “_

 _“That’s what he wants!”_ Ahsoka growled at him. _“He made it clear to me that he wants any reason to not trust- to not help you. And I made it clear to him that he helps both of us or neither!”_

_“He is asking for a long overdue death!”_

_“Would you do anything different?”_ Maul growled aloud and Ahsoka took that chance to straighten herself. Her grip on his arm did not lessen, the leather of her gloves squeaked across his bracers. _“Don’t give him what he wants…”_

Maul hissed and yanked his arm out of her grip while pulling himself away from the dark bond between their minds. _Don’t do anything stupid!_ She thought to herself. Doing stupid things does not seem like something Maul would do. His saber lowered itself slightly and his golden eyes snapped towards Yoda again. The old master’s face was alight in the glow of all three sabers, illuminating a creased but tight frown as his ancient dark eyes crossed between Ahsoka and Maul.

“You…” Maul muttered and pointed his towards Yoda. “I will no longer acknowledge or fall prey to your petty little taunts. But cross me again _I_ will be your end!” Yoda said nothing but a slight smirk tilted his lip upwards. Snarling in rage Maul turned and marched off into the darkness without sparing a glance at Ahsoka, his durasteel legs booming against the ground. Only the glow of his saber gave away his location.

Ahsoka let out a pent-up breath and lowered her saber, the blue beam scoring the top of the roots. “You should not do that master…”

“Do what?”

“Antagonise him.”

“Test him, I must. Understand that, you surely do” Yoda walked slowly to Ahsoka’s side, his wise old eyes regarding her thoughtfully.

“Yeah but bringing up his legs…Or lack of them is a low blow.”

“Hm hm hm” Yoda chortled and waved his hand up and down his face. “Tell him not to call me frog, I did.”

Ahsoka smiled slightly and looked back at Maul’s red sabers, bobbing in and out of view in the distance. “Well that’s definitely true. Shall we get to this heart tree before Maul destroys these…healing waters out of spite?”

“Yes, indeed we shall.” Both Yoda and Ahsoka slowly made their way across roots and pools of water. Taking their time, partly due to Ahsoka’s injuries but also to spend some more time between the two of them. Maul’s red saber was never quite lost to sight, but even if it was the deep prints his boots made into the ground were a dead giveaway to where he was going.

“Stop Maul from attacking me, you did. But a moment there was where you two said nothing. But speaking to him you _were_ ” Yoda said. “What happened in that time?”

“It’s another part of this thing in our minds. I can seek contact, when I do, I can speak to him through our minds like I speak to you now” the half Jedi said as she awkwardly stepped over large snaking roots.

“Telepathy? Strange that is. Another part, you said. What other parts do you know?” Yoda continued as he nimbly jumped high and low over anything in his path.

“I can sense his emotions and he can sense my own. And there is something else that I don’t really want to know. If I want to, and if he isn’t awake, I am able to go deep inside his mind…” the image of a huge lake thrashing in the middle of a storm flashed before her eyes and she shook her head to clear it. “I could feel memories there. If I went in slightly further, I do not know what I might have seen. I don’t want to know what could be there.”

“What was it you felt young Ahsoka?” Yoda asked.

“Fear” Ahsoka whispered. “Suffering…pain. That’s all there was in there.”

“Hm, surprising that is not. Taken by Darth Sidious as a baby, there will be nothing else he learned under his hand…” Yoda sighed. “Sense your pain, I do. Your feelings are unstable discussing such things. Pity him, do you?”

“I do. But he doesn’t like pity.”

“Hmm…” Yoda trailed off into silence as he ducked under a and large root. “Have this conversation with him, I must.”

“About this thing in our heads?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yes. Need both accounts to understand I do. Experience something different, he could.”

“Yeah that’s true…Just wait for him to calm down before talking to him” Ahsoka said nervously. She couldn’t help but think that their conversation will turn to blows.

Yoda laughed again his voice quiet in the loud swamp. “Good advice that is, young one.”

“Master, what is a heart tree?” she asked one he fell silent.

“Strong this planet is with the Force. Strongest it is around and within this tree. Like a heart, the Force flows within and then out, spreading the flow of the Force throughout the planet it helps to do.”

“Never heard of it before.”

“ _Found_ one, the Jedi never has. Unique to Dagobah, the tree may be.”

“Sounds promising either way.” The trip continued in silence for a long time. Master Yoda seemed content to slowly make their way deeper into the swamp, but Ahsoka felt his gaze flicker towards her frequently and look right into her soul. _I probably would too after all of this._ Suddenly the half Jedi became aware that Maul’s saber had stopped moving, glowing at them half concealed in the distance. Ahsoka felt her interest pique and she hurried on slightly faster, leaving Yoda behind to nimbly duck and jump in her wake. Maul’s saber grew closer and soon, Ahsoka could make out his slightly illuminated silhouette.

“Hey, what is it?” she asked as she drew up to his shoulder.

Maul jutted his chin forward and nodded into the distance. “Look” he said. Ahsoka frowned and peered into the swamp but was unable to see past the darkness that cloaked every inch of tree, root and water.

“Ah, I can’t see anything…”

Maul rolled his eyes and unhappily turned off his saber. “Go on. Turn yours off too.”

Ahsoka glanced at her saber then again at Maul before reluctantly turning it off too. Quickly, the darkness swallowed her like a greedy fish in the seas and Ahsoka rapidly blinked her eyes, trying to force her eyes to adjust. “I don’t – “but then she froze.

In the depths, a soft but bright blue glow faded alight before her. The blueness took shape into think tendril lengths, weaving down like kelp and algae to the ground. One by one, more of the blue glow winked into life before her. In the clusters of fat and wide flowers with glowing petals, drooping against their perch. In the thick lobe like ferns unfurled across each other in bushels, in the flat spotted caps of mushrooms growing tall from their glowing mycelium. Ahsoka’s eyes widened as the glow revealed the plants throne. Huge bulging branches spread out in countless long twisted limbs, draped in the bioluminescent plants sprouting from the wood. The tips stretched and pushed back all the smaller, pitiful trees away from it, the smallest branch was thicker than any humanoid species. Roots, wider than speeders tumbled from its base and down deep into the soil greedily. Ahsoka stepped forward and nearly jumped in surprise as her foot thudded on a root’s solid wood. The trunk more than anything dominated the space. Just as wide as a large house and filled with boughs, grooves and worn opening where more glowing plants erupted from in dense clusters. The tree in its entirety glowed before Ahsoka in a motley of blue light and dark hidden patches. She looked up and examined the tree from below and was not surprised she could not see the tree’s lofty top.

She breathed. The air filled her lungs like wind fills a sail and as she breathed, it was as if the Force flowed into her, warming every joint and crevice within her body. A smile spread across Ahsoka’s dark and split lips and she couldn’t stop the awed sigh escaping them. “It’s amazing!” she whispered.

“Yes” Maul replied, his voice soft and low. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And the Force! Do you feel that Lady Tano, do you feel it pour itself inside you? Consuming you, merging with you…”

“It’s not consuming, its…like its embracing me” Ahsoka said.

“An embrace?” Maul turned to her. “It feels so much more than something so petty.”

“Not to me” she said back and smiled up at the ancient tree. “Not at all.”

“Arrive at the heart tree, we have.” Yoda said from behind the two as he bumbled up towards Ahsoka, his own saber put away. “Here we will stay, to learn of the bond we must. Young Ahsoka, let me take you to these waters before we begin.”

“Okay, I will follow you in a moment” the half Jedi replied. Yoda blinked at her and glanced unsubtly between Maul and herself. A brow rose on the old master’s face, but he nodded and began slowly walking towards the massive tree.

Ahsoka turned once again towards Maul who was already looking at her, his golden eyes peering into her own questioningly. “What is it you want, Lady Tano?” he asked, the low timber of his voice rumbling out his throat.

“Nothing, I just need to tell you something” Ahsoka said. Maul raised a tattooed brow and nodded for her to continue. “Yoda is going to ask you some questions about this thing in our heads. He already asked me them, but he needs to hear your side too.”

“Pah” Maul glared. “What gives him any impression that I will talk to him, let alone be near that pathetic old man.”

“Because if you don’t, we may be here longer than we should be. You speak to him, the more he learns means the more we learn about it too” Ahsoka placed a hand on her hip. “It will be quick I promise.”

Maul growled under his breath and Ahsoka rolled her eyes at him and began to walk towards the heart tree. “You love to talk Maul” she said as she walked away. “Surely this won’t be so difficult.” The thing in her mind twitched and a brief flash of anger made the dark thing wriggle slightly. Ahsoka smiled as she walked away, amused at how easy it was to anger the half Sith.

Perhaps the he could feel her enjoyment at his frustration because she vaguely heard Maul mutter a curse under his breath. The soft moss on the tops of the roots dipped under foot, with each step the blue glow flared slightly and then faded back into its soft light. _Beautiful,_ she thought. Yoda beckoned to her before the trunk, his small body dwarfed by the immense tree around him.

“Come young Ahsoka. Down we must go” he said.

“Where are these pools?” she asked as she limped over to his side.

“Below” Yoda nodded. “Beneath this wonderful tree. Feed the roots the pool does, in turn, the tree feeds the pool.”

“Do these healing properties come from the Force?”

“No and yes” Yoda laughed. “No not the exact how’s and why’s. It just is.” The old master began to walk across the roots, around the circumference of the tree. “This way.”

Ahsoka followed silently and her eyes looked at the glowing flowers speckled across the tree’s branches. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Important it is, to find beauty in dark times like these.” Ahsoka dragged her hand against the rough bark and nodded to herself. _Don’t know how much is left in this world. This could be a relic I’m looking at,_ she thought and looked up sadly at the old tree. They rounded the tree and at the very base, between the largest of the roots and against the massive trunk was a small hollow. Mushrooms and ferns sprouted from the hollow’s opening, the glowing vegetation sparkling in a welcoming light. “Down here, yes” Yoda jumped down between the roots at the entrance. Ahsoka painfully sat and slid herself down the mossy root a few meters until her boots thudded against the ground. Wincing, she rubbed her leg and ribs before nodding at Yoda. Yoda turned his saber off and slipped inside the hollow where the darkness and light consumed him. Though the entrance was small, it was only so against the massiveness of the tree, Ahsoka barely had to duck to enter herself. The two stood on a cold and wet plateau protected by the winding roots that snaked down from a tangled cone-like ceiling into walls, sealing away the pools from everything. The plateau jutted out over an emptiness where a bright glow crept up from below. Ahsoka leaned over the edge and gasped at the site.

Snaking pools of water ran beneath the platform and like the plants around her, these pools also shone a cool blueness in each drop of water. A little droplet of water fell from the wooden ceiling and splashed into the pools, echoing around the chamber.

“Bioluminescent phytoplankton make these waters glow, yes” Yoda said. “The plankton may be the source of healing. The Force may also only amplify it.”

“Either way that water looks so inviting.”

Yoda turned from the edge and made his way town natural stairs made of roots and rock. Ahsoka followed him, being careful not to slip on the saturated steps. “Stay here as long as you require, young Ahsoka. Speak to Maul I must while you recover. Better to speak to him alone.”

“He still isn’t happy with you, master” Ahsoka said and kneeled on the ground before a wide pool. “Please don’t taunt him too much.”

“Try not to, I will. But answer truthfully, he must, so I can understand all.”

 _Well let’s hope he will be honest anyway._ But then a sudden thought sprang in Ahsoka’s mind and anxiety gripped her heart like a fist. “Master, please do not tell Maul I looked inside his mind!” she whispered. “He cannot know!”

“Tell him, you did not?” Yoda frowned.

“No, I couldn’t! After everything that’s happened, he _hates_ the idea of someone being in his mind!” Ahsoka’s voice went high and she looked deep into Yoda’s eyes. “He cannot know.”

Yoda’s frown suddenly turned into a near glare and anger burned inside his dark eyes. Ahsoka sat back, startled. _Why is he angry with me -?_

“A great mistake you have made, young Ahsoka” Yoda’s words sliced through the air like hard steel. “Never should anyone look inside another’s mind without their permission! A violation it is. Even if he is a Sith, yes.”

“It wasn’t my choice!” Ahsoka said. “I never wanted to - “

“But fail to tell him, you did” Yoda turned his back to her and began his way up the short steps. “Meditate on your actions, young Ahsoka. Tell him, of your intrusion and accept his reaction you must.”

Anger clouded Ahsoka’s mind and she turned sharply away from the old master. “I had no choice!” she bit out her words punctuated with wrath.

“All we have is choices. Now choose how, when, you will tell him” Yoda said down to her from the top of the plateau and without another word he turned and vanished back into the depths of Dagobah.

“You make it sound like you’ve never made mistakes!” Ahsoka hissed up to the plateau. “Fuck!” her hand slapped against the water and the pool shook and swirled in small waves. Anger coursed through her like dry tinder on a fire that made Ahsoka want to shout her rage out to the world. _I had no choice! I never wanted to-_

The dark thing in her mind twitched and suddenly, two bright yellow eyes peered at her from inside her head. _“Why so enraged Lady Tano?”_ Maul asked, his voice light with curiosity.

 _“Go away!”_ she shouted at him and shoved him out of her mind. His eyes sparkled intently before they vanished and let Ahsoka alone to herself. “Fuck…” Ahsoka swore again, and a little bit of guilt sunk to her stomach like a rock. _He will likely never forgive me for that…_ Listening to Maul sing was one invasion of privacy. Looking into his mind as he slept was completely another. “For all he said he may just try to kill me” she muttered. Angrily she looked at her gloves and snatched them off her hands. Maul’s cloak followed, the heavy fabric pouring to the ground. Piece by piece Ahsoka stripped off one article of clothing after another until all that was left was the crude bandages binding her ribs. The cave beneath the tree was chilly, making her body prickle in the cold. Shivering, Ahsoka dipper her foot into the water and was surprised that it was slightly warmer than expected. Muttering under her breath, she sat on the cold stone floor and slipped into the pool.

The cool water enveloped her legs and a strange tingle went up them. Wincing at the temperature, Ahsoka steeled her spine, took and deep breath and fully submerged herself within the blue waters. As her feet touched the rocky bottom, a tingle immediately spread up her legs and over her body, even to the tips of her bone montrals. Ahsoka jolted at the sensation, and quickly her lips, ribs, hip and neck almost burned at the contact. _What-_ Ahsoka struggled to the surface and gasped for breath. Still her wounds didn’t stop hurting at the contact. Gritting her teeth, Ahsoka quickly rubbed her hand up and down her leg and slowly it seemed to have some affect. The burning became a numbing sensation. The muscles and tissues around her ribs and hip could not feel her probing fingers, nor the bruised meat on the nape of her neck, or the gristly tear on her lips. The cool water stripped away the aches and pain that possessed her body, but sadly not the turmoil in her mind.

Ahsoka leaned back against the cold rock lip of the pool and idly flicked glowing water with her fingers. _I didn’t think what I did was wrong,_ she thought. _I was helping him…I didn’t look into his mind on purpose, but he needed my help._ Like a ghost, the memory of Anakin walked into her thoughts uninvited.

 _Would you like it Snips? If someone did that to you that is,_ his calm voice said in her mind.

 _No of course not. I can understand not liking it, but it was a necessity! I thought Sidious was looking for him,_ she responded.

_Do you think that answer will work for him?_

Ahsoka groaned and angrily rubbed her face. Her split lip did not hurt at all. _No…But then how do I bloody well tell him?!_

 _Well I guess you can’t,_ Anakin’s ghost seemed to say. _Or you get to a place in your relationship where you can tell him._

 _Place in our relationship?!_ Ahsoka shuddered. _There_ is _no relationship. We are working together for now. This partnership has an expiration date!_

Ahsoka could almost feel a shrug roll off imaginary Anakin’s shoulders. _Whatever you say Snips._ With that the ghost vanished from her mind, and the half Jedi was almost sad that he was gone. In the glowing healing pools beneath the heart tree, she couldn’t help but feel so alone. “There is no relationship!” she whispered, glaring down at the water. Another memory crept in… Maul, under the lights of the ship and the stars. His eyes bright, curious, his jaw catching the light just right enhancing his sharp cheek bones. His hunting yet handsome face-

“Nope!” Ahsoka yelped, her heart racing and plunged her head below the water once more. _There is no relationship, there is no friendship. We are just allies!_ She repeated these words over and over in her mind as she sank to the bottom of the pool, her knees bunched to her face. _Think of something else!_ She demanded. Grasping for anything, Ahsoka forced herself to go over the sixth form fighting techniques in her mind. One by one from the basics all the way to the most advanced until an image of herself flowed through the moves like water in a river. Eventually her heart started to slow, the deep embarrassment and shame quelled to something more manageable. When her lungs screamed at her for air, only then did she allow herself to push herself to the surface, her chest heaving in the cold cave like air. “For the love of…” with a sigh she reclined against the pools rocky lip for a second time and stared up at the conical root ceiling. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”

 _A lot apparently,_ her inner mind whispered. 

“Don’t I know it” she groaned. Idly, Ahsoka prodded her ribs gently and her eyes widened as they only flared very mildly in pain. “Wait- “she reached down and pressed at her hip. Not even a little bit of it hurt. “Wow…” she breathed. Turning, Ahsoka dragged herself out of the pool slowly got to her feet. Besides a few niggles of pain here and there, it was as if she was completely fine. “Like a tank of bacta” she murmured. Invigoration filled her and Ahsoka brushed off the drops of water that layered her before tugging back on her clothes that stuck to her skin more than normal, the cloak settling against her shoulders in a flourish. Excited, she grasped the saber on the floor and slipped it into her belt before leaping up to the plateau above.

“I’m all better!” she cheered victoriously making her damp lekku twitch. The glowing plants seemed all the more vibrant as she walked confidently out of the hollow, her feet sure against the ground. Her eyes glanced around her surroundings and was happy to see a small fire, nestled between the large roots of the heart tree. Smiling Ahsoka made her way towards it, until she saw a relaxed figure reclining against the roots. Maul sat against them like it was a throne, an arm cast lazily against the tough roots and a durasteel leg pulled up towards his chest. He sat like he did on the throne of Mandalore…

“Well don’t stop on my account. Join the fire” said Maul, though quiet, his rich voice spread towards Ahsoka like a tide. A twinge of annoyance and a fresh flush of embarrassment burned in her chest and Ahsoka look to the side with a tight frown. _You act as if you’re inviting me to some royal banquet!_

“Well?” his voice held the slightest edge of mockery.

Hissing under her breath the half Jedi stalked forwards, over the roots and dropped herself on the opposite side of the fire from Maul. A goading snicker rumbled across the fire and Ahsoka snapped her eyes up furiously at Maul’s smirking face. “Something funny?” she growled.

“Oh, you just appear angry for some reason” Maul drawled. “And it’s so entertaining to try and figure out why.”

Ahsoka muttered under her breath and shot the half Sith a baleful glare. _Two can play at this game._ “Speak to Yoda?” she snipped.

“Yes, yes that conceited little toad _approached_ me” Maul sighed and slipped off a glove. Nonchalantly he peered at his nails and began picking at them. “Asking questions about this _thing_ in our heads. He was lucky his pitiful little saber wasn’t drawn. I would _relish_ an excuse to knock him down from his little comment!”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and felt her stomach growl hungrily. Seeking any reason not to look at the half Sith, she glanced over the campsite and found the duraplastic backpack that Maul carried off the ship. “Just don’t fight him tonight. I’m in no mood to break it up” she splayed her hand and dragged the bag towards her with the Force.

“You’re in no condition to _attempt_ that” Maul sighed. Ahsoka shot him another glare before undoing the clasp of the bags hard top and flipping it open. At the top, the same grey box rested at the top of the bag filled with the richly cured meats. Saliva sprang in her mouth and she eagerly took the container from the bag. During this, she tried to ignore the Sith’s inquisitive eyes that followed her every movement. “Oh, what’s this?” he said. “You don’t look half as beaten down as before.” Ahsoka ignored him and started to chew on the food. Spicy and smoky flavour burst on her tongue and Ahsoka sighed in appreciation. “You weren’t in those pools for long. Tell me is it just your minor injuries that are better?”

Ahsoka swallowed and gave him a stern look. “Don’t tell me you want to fight already.”

“No” he rested his jaw on a curled hand. “I want to make it more interesting for me. I will fight you when you’re a little…less obsessed with whatever thoughts are drifting around that head of yours.”

Sneering, Ahsoka lifted her hand, and the backpack shot through the air towards Maul like a comet. The half Sith lazily raised his hand and the bag halted less than an arms-length from his face. “How considerate of you” he smirked and took the bag in hand where he fished out one of the many protein shakes. “I was hungry myself.”

“Takes a stomach to be hungry…” Ahsoka muttered under her breath.

“What was that?!” Maul’s voice snapped. Ahsoka looked up as the thing in her head twitched and was faced with eyes that reflected the fire, turning his irises into a burning glare. She snorted and angrily sunk her teeth into another strip of meat. Maul stared at her for a moment longer and then dumped the bag by his side with a dull thud. “I thought you were above petty little taunts, but then, you are of _Kenobi’s_ lineage. And even that fool just couldn’t help himself” he spat. “What did that old toad say that has you so furious, Lady Tano? Or did you decided that instead of licking your fresh wounds you would reopen old ones?” Ahsoka hissed and her fist bunched on the fold of the cloak, but she refused to be goaded. “Hm…” Maul continued and placed the protein shake down on the root beside. “Sometimes I have to _pretend_ that you are more sensible then you so obviously are. More capable of controlling your plain thoughts and feelings. I don’t need this- “he tapped his temple. “In my mind to _read_ you.”

Ahsoka felt her anger flare like the fire. “Neither do I!” Ahsoka snapped.

Maul’s hand bunched and a slight tremor shook the ground beneath her crossed legs. “Oh, I can understand anger girl. Better, I can understand rage. But what I _do not_ understand is this rage you point in my direction!”

Ahsoka sighed and tilted her head up towards the branches of the heart tree where not a glimpse of starlight or moonlight was to be seen. _I don’t have a reason_ yet _to be angry with you…_ As the thought flew across her mind a sudden chill washed down her spine along with guilt and shame. “It is to do with something Yoda said…” she said quietly.

Maul growled and she watched him grab the shake irritably and rip off the top. “You spend less than a few hours with that old thing and he has already set you against me!”

“No…No it’s not that” Ahsoka continued. “It’s just about later when we have to do something about this thing in our heads. I don’t know what it could be.” When Maul said nothing, she peered deeper into his eyes across the fire and then she knew. She just knew that he knows she was hiding something; she could see it in his eyes.

“Nothing else?”

“No.”

Maul stared at her for a long while, but Ahsoka met his eyes unflinchingly, maintaining the composure one would expect of the Jedi. _Tell him, of your intrusion and accept his reaction you must_ , Yoda’s words said to her again. _One day but not today,_ she thought. Both half Jedi and Sith finished their meals in silence but a thick tension charged the air like electricity. But for most of it, Maul’s eyes were fixed solely on her. After a time, he cracked his neck with a sharp snap and reclined against the roots once more. “You’re little Jedi friend isn’t coming forward. We should rest.”

Ahsoka looked around but couldn’t see a glimpse of master Yoda though she had a vague feeling he was watching from afar. “I don’t even know if it is night-time, but it doesn’t seem to matter.”

“Days and nights are longer here than planets like Coruscant” Maul said.

It suddenly came to Ahsoka, that _this_ was their true campsite, and with all that entails. _I will be sleeping in the same area as_ him. She shivered and held the cloak tighter around herself. _I don’t like that…_ But she was not in a good position to refuse. She would rather swallow her pride and stay rather than facing the embarrassment of stalking off to make her own camp. Unceremoniously, Ahsoka laid down with her back to the fire and wrapped the dark cloak tightly around herself. She could feel Maul’s eyes studying her back and began to wonder what it was he was thinking. Despite their words earlier, she couldn’t help but feel like she was about to be attacked. _Don’t be stupid,_ she thought to herself. _If anything, Yoda is around…_

It was hours before she heard Maul settle himself on the ground and hours later when Ahsoka could sleep, but even when her eyes slid shut, she could not find peace. In her mind she stood upon a calm lake in a pale pink sunrise that stretched from edge to edge of until the distant horizon, the edges of the sky lined blue and misty vapour sliding beneath the water. Ahsoka looked at her feet standing on the water and chill went through her. _Is this Maul’s mind?_ She looked around and there were no waves nor a brewing storm in the distance, but a dark feeling in the base of her head grew. _Or is this mine…_ Ahsoka peered into the waters and the misty current took shape. Dark, angry yellow eyes appeared below her, the size of tables stared into her unblinkingly. _Maul?!_ She thought. But something about those eyes did not belong to him. These were someone else’s. Ahsoka tried to move her feet, she tried to run from these eyes that stared up at hers. But like a tree takes root into soil, her feet were part of the water around her, trapping her to the eyes below.

 _“Choose! You will need to choose Ahsoka!”_ the eyes roared. And then everything went dark.

Something boomed in the darkness and Ahsoka sat up with a muffled shout, her chest heaving and sweat beading on her brow. Thunder rumbled in the sky above, the rolling echo shaking the ground beneath Ahsoka. Fat drops of water that leaked from the trees above splashed on her cold face. Her breath clouded like smoke as she panted for breath. _Anakin?! No that can’t be Anakin, it can’t be-_

“What sort of nightmares do you have, Lady Tano?” a deep voice rumbled. Ahsoka snapped her head to the right and Maul lay propped up on an elbow next to the cold fire, staring at her, indifferent to the rain and thunder. Lighting flashed and his eyes glowed bright like lanterns. “What can you no longer ignore when you sleep?”

A crack of thunder roared, and the trees shook at its fury. Ahsoka looked around almost fearing to see _those_ eyes in the dark. _It was a dream, just a dream,_ she looked again at Maul. He shrugged indifferently and summoned it back to his side. “I don’t know what it was that I saw…” she whispered. Maul frowned but Ahsoka looked away from his burning eyes and with a shaking hand wiped away the sweat on her forehead. “It was- “

Footsteps pattered on the roots coming closer and closer, almost hidden by the rain but both half Jedi and Sith immediately twisted in the direction. Yoda appeared on the crest of the largest of roots and nodded to Ahsoka alone. “Awake you are? Good. It is time we learned. Come. Both of you must come with me.”

Ahsoka watched him jump off the root and looked back to her long hands that bunched in the cloak. They trembled like leaves on a tree and she squeezed them tighter. _What choice will I have to make?_ She thought.

“Come? Summoning me like a fucking dog!” Maul spat and stood to his feet. “That fool!”

Ahsoka stood to her feet and rolled her hands to try and ease her nerves. The thunder roared as if denying her that request. “Let’s just go” she muttered and began to jump over the large root Yoda was just on. Maul hissed but soon he followed the half Jedi as well, muttering curses along the way. In the glow of the flowers, ferns and fungus, Ahsoka watched when Yoda slipped down the gap between two roots where the hollow for the pools lay. Quickly she began to follow, and Maul easily kept pace.

“So, what was it that you dreamed of?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It may very well matter. Unless it is deeply personal, what was this about, a lover?” Ahsoka shot a glare at the half Sith and Maul laughed mockingly. “Clearly not then.”

“It was eyes. It was just eyes that I saw, _Sith_ eyes” she pointed a sharp look at him, and Maul’s brows furrowed.

“Sidious?”

“No, I’m not sure who it was but I am certain it wasn’t him” Ahsoka muttered. _But they seemed almost familiar…_ She looked at Maul in the corner of her eye to try and catch a glimpse of his own. Those lanterns only made a chill settle in her heart, _they are definitely not his…_

Both companions dropped down the last root and they stood at the entrance of the hollow. A drop of water fell from the roof inside and echoed as it splashed into the unseen pools. Ahsoka took a breath and slunk inside. Maul’s boots boomed as they stepped onto the rocky plateau and he looked around suspiciously, his horns shining blue in the strange light. “These are the pools?” he asked.

“The pools, yes” Yoda’s voice said from below. “Let us see what the Force shall reveal, hmm?”

The two walked down the stairs side by side and Ahsoka felt a wave of calmness wash through her as she approached the glowing blue waters. Even Maul’s eyes glinted with interest and he knelt on the rocky lip, dipping his hand into the cool liquid. “That feels…unusual” he said.

“Only Ahsoka and I have tested these pools. Strong they are in the Force. What affect it will have on one deep in the dark side is a mystery, yes.”

“You said that the Force here is neither light or dark, but grey. How will the effect be any different?” Maul scowled at the old master.

“The Force is grey. The light takes what it wants, so too does the dark. Much difference there is in the powers of the Sith and the Jedi. Perhaps this pool will affect _you_ differently, Maul” Yoda intoned. “This is what I propose, yes. Both of you enter the pool, test the boundaries you must of this bond.”

“Test in what way, master?” Ahsoka asked.

“Two things we know for certain about this bond. Speak between your minds, the two of you can. Have a deeper, intimate knowledge of your emotions and thoughts you both also share. You must know the strengths, the _weaknesses_ of this bond. How far this connection goes, yes. A chance there is, that your minds will overlap” Yoda said but his eyes sought out Ahsoka’s and his dark brown pits shone with a hidden message. _And there is that third part that only you know,_ he seemed to say.

Lightning split apart the sky of Dagobah and a bright flash ripped blazed through the room. Ahsoka jolted and stared up at the root ceiling above, almost scared that it would fall in on them. _Don’t be foolish!_ She bit her lip and turned to Maul whose eyes were already set on hers, thoughts flinging across his irises like fires. Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably but refused to be intimidated. “Well, are you ready for this.” 

“It does not seem we have a choice, Lady Tano” he growled and crossed his arms.

Ahsoka turned back to Yoda and kept Maul out of site. “Is this safe?” she asked. She dimly heard rustling coming from Maul’s direction and ignored it.

“You must tell me that. Know, I would not” Yoda said. “Ready are you, for this young Ahsoka?”

Ahsoka felt her lip twitch in a half smile and spread her hands wide. “Do or die.”

“Good. Prepare yourself.”

Ahsoka turned to begin taking her boots off when she suddenly froze at the site of Maul. Heat flooded her face as the half Sith pulled off the last fold of his shirt, revealing a muscular and _powerful_ upper body. Ahsoka quickly looked away but couldn’t stop herself from looking at him from the corner of her eye as she fumbled with her boots. The glimpses she saw of tattoos peaking out from the dip of his shirt was revealed of snaking lines running down a broad chest in whorls and strokes like an artist painted them on canvas. Black married red along his sharp collar bones only to divide upon his fine shoulders accentuated in the dim light. Dark swathes sectioned off from the nape of his neck down his shoulder blades, only to meet again with the patterns running down his long arms. Ahsoka shook her head, ignoring the heat that burned on her cheeks and threw her boots off, but even so her eyes couldn’t help themselves as they drifted towards the half Sith once more. His abs were a wonderful example of strong muscles and arching tattoos, spreading like ribs on either side. He kept his short pants on, for which she was grateful, even if the rest was all cybernetic equipment.

 _Stop looking!_ She internally yelled at herself and threw off her gloves. She stood and thunder applauded in the sky sending a shower of droplets splashing into the pool from above. Resolutely she stared at Yoda who sat himself on a rocky out crop by the pool. “What do we do now?” she asked. 

“Enter the pool. Search this bond yes, for as long as you need. Watch, I will and observe the Force around you. Begin as you see fit.”

Ahsoka took a deep breath and turned to Maul whose eyes already met hers with a strange fire burning. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to look at his eyes or horns only, refusing any more humiliation from his part. She pulled off the cloak roughly and it hit the ground in a muffled thud. “Ready when you are, Sith” she forced confidence in her voice and a smirk pulled on her lips.

A red smile stretched across Maul’s face and he grinned at her evilly. “Very well, _Jedi_ ” he said softly. Maul walked to the edge of the pool and without a second glance walked into it as if he were about to walk on solid land. He sank like a rock, and the glowing blue water hid his red form. Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka flared her finger and slipped into the pool also. The lukewarm water prickled her arms face and feet like tiny needles, the presence of the Force wrapping around her like electricity. Ahsoka closed her eyes as she sank, and only when her knees bumped into the rocky floor, did she open then. Maul sat before her, cross legged and watching her intently, even in the blue water his eyes glowed red and yellow. The thing in her mind twitched and those eyes were doubled within her own.

 _“Ready to begin?”_ his voice asked.

 _“I guess…”_ Ahsoka said back. Maul nodded and slowly extended his arms out, his hands flat and forward reaching towards her. _You were once a Jedi, you fear nothing!_ She told herself as she too reached out and pressed her hands, palm to palm, finger to finger with the half Sith before her. His hands were warm even in the water but Ahsoka couldn’t felt more than uncomfortable at the deliberate contact. Far above another crack of thunder sung, vibrating the water around them. Despite her words, Ahsoka couldn’t help but allow her fear to control her for just a second. Her fingers spread and slipped themselves between Maul’s, gripping him tightly like he was her only lifeline. She felt a flash of surprise from the half Sith and no small amount of indignation. But after a moment, his fingers folded over her hands almost gently and the fear within her disappeared, replaced with the subtle warmth of comfort. Ahsoka closed her eyes and appreciated it for a moment. _Alright…_

_“Begin”_ they both said at the same time.

The dark thing within her mind dragged Ahsoka’s consciousness towards it like a magnet to a load stone. A warm flow passed over her like a tide as she entered it and the half Jedi grounded herself within it as she was swept away in the pull of the bond between their minds. Ahsoka slowly opened her eyes and no longer saw Maul, sitting before her in the pool. It was the lake; it would always come back to that. Ahsoka looked around at the water that stretched endlessly towards the corners of the horizons, more a vast ocean in truth. Thick storm clouds brewed on the horizon and choppy waves splashed against her feet. There was no pink sunrise like there was in her mind, but a dark almost black sky where thunder rumbled distantly.

 _“Maul”_ she asked. _“What do you see?”_

When he spoke, it sounded like he was standing right by her side, and not with the dull echo that she normally heard. _“I’m standing on a great lake or body of water. The sun is rising. I have no idea where I am. And you?”_

 _“The same, but there is a thunderstorm about to begin…”_ Ahsoka adjusted herself uncomfortably because she knew exactly where she was and where he was. She didn’t like stepping foot within Maul’s mind for a second time and hated that he was within hers even more. She could feel him there, a sharp presence within her, and he no doubt could feel the same. _We must learn,_ she thought to herself and swallowed that discomfort. Ahsoka began to walk along the choppy water beneath her feet, the waves white caps breaking against her calves. With each wave she felt the anger that was constantly present and the cold sensation of fear that made his eyes feverish at times. _It is not because of me._ She walked and the thunder within the clouds grew louder with each passing step but everything else was silent, even her footsteps. The discomfort came back and grew with each step. A charge began to fill the air, a tension so thick she could cut it. _Keep going, I have to keep going-_

Thunder roared but, in the distance, Ahsoka saw a thin sheet of ice on the water slowly grow near. _What is that?_ It seemed miles away. The horizon warped before her, the ice sheet seeming far away, but with each step it was like she walked hundreds of meters making her mind spin. With her next step, her bare feet thudded on the ice with a hollow boom. The half Jedi stood shaking on the ice, her feet beginning to burn with the temperature. Something dark stirred beneath the ice. A black shadow began to pool beneath her. Fear seized her heart like a fist and Ahsoka tried to back away, but her feet was rooted to the ground. _No, no!_ she struggled but her body refused to move.

Maul’s sharp presence within her twitched. _“What is happening?!”_ he demanded.

 _“I don’t- “_ But then the ice broke beneath her feet and the dark shadow reached up like a wave and Ahsoka was dragged under. She struggled and kicked against the water, but the ice resealed itself over her and she was dragged further and further into the depths. Ahsoka’s mouth opened to scream, but like a predator, the dark shadow lunged forward and forced itself down her opened mouth.

 _“GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT OF MY MIND- “_ The shadow cut of Maul’s voice like a knife.

Ahsoka choked and gagged; her hands clasped around her throat desperately trying to struggle away when everything went black.

The half Jedi floated in and out of her consciousness but everywhere she drifted, whispers followed. Their voices high and low, loud and quiet muttered cold cruel words around her. Death, vengeance, torture, suffering, murder and so many more, in common tongue and the guttural language of the Dathomirians.

 _Pain._ A voice whispered.

The word echoed around Ahsoka’s mind, and her eyes opened with a snap. Ahsoka stood within a dark tunnel of rotten metal and fire, thick with the foul stench of sulfur and decay. She wretched for breath, bile filling her mouth as the burning air forced itself into her lungs. _No, no, where am I?! Where is this?! I can’t be off world-_

A broken cry wailed in the depths of the tunnel, its voice echoing and booming down the walls before fading into barely contained sobs. Something in the darkness, hidden by ruined metal carcasses and fire _moved_. Ahsoka’s jolted in fright and her hand immediately reached for the saber strapped to the side. Covering her nose with the other, she slowly stalked forwards. With each step the cries grew louder and she froze as a strange stunted form dragged itself over sharp blades of metal and filth. A burning fire was all that separated Ahsoka from the creature.

“Master…Please have mercy. _PLEASE_!” the thing cried out.

 _That voice, it can’t be!_ Ahsoka stumbled forwards, her heart raced in her chest painfully as she rounded the fire. And then she saw him. No longer was he the man, tall, strong, his presence dominating any space he occupied that she knew him as. The thing known as Maul lay crippled across ruined, poisonous ground. Opened, bleeding wounds ripped apart his bare skin down his throat and chest. He lay there, thin and feverish in the filth, an arm reaching upwards desperately towards the ceiling. Ahsoka’s eyes blew wide as her gaze followed down to his hips where his body ended and there was nothing, but filthy sodden rags caked in blood. Horror froze Ahsoka’s throat, caught on a shout of terror as she backed away from the thing that was Maul.

The thing sobbed in the air, pain lacing every gasp as his chest heaved shallow breaths. “Master…Master. Please!” he wailed. The fire roared, its tongues lashing out licking against the stump of his body through the rags. A broken shriek ripped through the air and the thing desperately tried to claw himself away from the blaze.

“HELP ME!”

Bile raced up Ahsoka’s throat. Retching into her hands, the half Jedi turned and threw herself away from the thing crying on the ground. Ahsoka ran. She ran as fast as she could, stumbling back down the twisting tunnel. Flames flickered around her creating twisted silhouettes of metal and then a shadow lunged out from the depths of the tunnel and she was consumed.

 _“GET OUT!”_ Maul’s voice bellowed in her mind, his presence within her spasming like a beast in pain. But once again the shadow poured in. This time through Ahsoka’s eyes. The shadow forced itself under her clamped eyelids and everything fell silent. All except for the whispers echoing in the dark…

 _Agony._ Another said.

Ahsoka felt herself fall as if from a great height and her back slammed into the ground, fragments of metal piercing through her skin. “Ah…” she moaned and painfully she rolled onto her front, her head cradled in her hands. Acidic air filled her lungs again. “No…No” she gasped. “Enough…”

“MOTHER!” _his_ voice shouted. Ahsoka’s head snapped up and she found herself laying on the floor at the entrance of a tunnel, leading into a great chamber. _Stop this!_ She begged.

“Oh. You sad little creature you! There are no _mothers_ down here” an oily voice said. Before her, a massive, glossy white snake circled itself around the thing that was Maul, careless of the fires it slid over. A black tongue flickered out of its parted mouth, licking the long fangs that hovered over Maul’s husk of a body. “There are no mothers, no masters. Only _meat_ ” it hissed.

“Mother…Mother. Please, please, please, pleasepleaseplease _please-_ “the ruined thing clasped at his face, begging over and over into his hands, cries hissing between his fingers. The chamber shook all around the three. Fragments of metal and garbage fell and clanged as it hit the floor. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

“What’s this?” the snakes head bobbed up and down, looking all around the room. “Don’t tell me that was you?”

Maul sobbed into his hands, babbling incoherent words.

“It was wasn’t it!” the creature exclaimed in excitement, its head swayed and Ahsoka’s heart dropped to her stomach as the thing _smiled_. “Perhaps…Just perhaps, you _can_ be useful to me” the snake whispered. A scaly tail wrapped itself around a long thin piece of metal with a spiked point and the beast admired the shard with an approving hiss. “You’re such a rare creature to find down here, little sad thing.” The piece of metal drifted closer towards Maul.

“But you in this condition? It simply will not do!” The snake hissed. The white head ducked and pushed itself under Maul’s body over and over, its long lithe form twisting itself into a binding knot. The wicked point of metal lowered and the tail aimed it straight at the centre of the filthy rags that bound the stump that made up his hips.

“NO!” Ahsoka shouted and scrambled to her feet. She leaped towards the twisted pair, but it was as if time seemed to slow and the air bound her to her spot. A tormented observer forced to watch. “STOP IT, LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

But Ahsoka was never part of this timeline. The snake and Maul heard and saw nothing.

“My non-prey calls me Morley” the snake whispered. “Now come…Let me _fix_ you.”

Morley stabbed the piece of iron deep into the bloody stump of the thing that was Maul. Maul’s hands ripped away from his mouth and he screamed a bloody and terrible noise. He screamed and wailed when the snake twisted it deeper in even as Maul flailed. Blood and pus spurted out of the wound and down the terrible weapon, _sizzling_ as the fluids dropped into a fire. Ahsoka screamed too. Her hands gripped her face as she wailed, unheard by all around. Tears fell from her face, but she could not look away, the shadow gripping her from the inside refused to let her. The snake relaxed its tail and left the piece of metal within Maul even as he spasmed on the ground, crying for his mother.

“Now…Let’s see what beast we can turn you into.”

 _Stop make it stop!_ Ahsoka begged as the snake picked up another hunk of metal. As if answering her, the shadow reached out and swallowed her once more. Darkness consumed her for a third time and the half Jedi struggled desperately to free herself from its grip.

 _“GET ME OUT OF HERE!”_ she shouted in the dark.

 _“AHSOKA!”_ Maul roared, but then the darkness filled her again.

 _No, no, no, nonononono! Make it stop please!_ She begged as the whispers began again.

 _Madness._ They whimpered.

The dark burned away in a blaze of fire and Ahsoka staggered back from the white-hot flames that shot up before her eyes. Crying out, Ahsoka held her arm over her eyes and backed away from the roaring fire until her back hit a wall. Out of the corner of her eye, something huge and sprawling moved.

“No longer the hunter, no longer the assassin. No, no, no” Maul’s voice whispered. Ahsoka lowered her arm and quickly her eyes found Maul who looked almost like… He was sticking out of the wall? His hands dragged down his face as he wavered here and there. Something loud crunched behind him. “Filth, I am less than the filth on the ground. My chains- my chains are broken, but I am not _free!_ No, no I’m gone- No what… Who…” His upper body convulsed and the thing or _things_ behind him clattered loudly on the ground. “Who am I? What am I? Kenobi…” he muttered, and chill struck Ahsoka’s spine. “Only Kenobi, all I know is _Kenobi…”_ he roared suddenly, and lunged forwards out of the dark and the _thing_ surged out with him.

The thing she saw before her was an abomination of man and steel. Huge sprawling limbs stuck out of a bulging thorax that scuttled and sprawled over the ground grotesquely. It was _part_ of him, Ahsoka realised in horror. Broken pieces of random metal married flesh in twisted scars spreading high from the line, barely hidden from rotting rags. The thing that was Maul grasped at his broken horns as he staggered around his den, shouting incoherent words in Dathomirian. Terror grasped Ahsoka’s heart making her gasp as the thing she looked at was less a man and more a monstrous arachnid.

“Maul” she whispered. “What have they done to you?!”

Maul trailed off his eyes feverishly streaking across the burning chamber wide with fear. His eight legs spasmed and trembled against the walls, gouging out piles of loose metal and filth. The walls began to shake. The ceiling groaned and a huge crack split the ceiling as the thing that was Maul roared in anger in pain. “ _He_ did this to me!” he shouted as if answering Ahsoka’s question. The creature surged forwards in the dark straight towards Ahsoka and she cried out in fear, trying to back away but the shadow held her in place. Maul loomed over her like some eldritch monster, his head swaying high and low, fingers dragging down his face as he peered into the wall above her head.

“They…They aren’t looking for me. Are they?” he whispered. “But who- Who are _they_? Who is out there? It’s just me, just me, just me, just me, justmejustmejustme _justm-_ “the broken man babbled on and on in the dark, his many metal legs shook and trembled, desperate for purchase. Maul buried his face into his hands and shivered. Broken laughter leaked between his fingers until they became sobs.

Ahsoka reached out. Fear tried to restrain her hand; horror tried to force her body to run away. But she whispered soft words, forcing kindness between her quivering lips as tears streaked down her face. “Maul” she whispered.

The creatures head snapped up, and his eyes stared into her own as if seeing her. Ahsoka gasped and saw her own reflection distorted in his burning, sickly eyes. “Help me!” he whispered. And then everything went dark.

Ahsoka floated in the darkness, the shadow twisting and writing around her like a snake. _No, enough. It’s too much. Make it stop, please-_

A great scream ripped through her mind like hot shears through paper. Ahsoka cried out and gripped her montrals as the voice pierced through her head and burned away the shadow that held her fast in its grip. That half Jedi was thrown out of the great black void beneath the lake, her back breaking through the ice that sealed her in from above and she whimpered in pain as she rolled breathlessly across the ice.

 _“GET OUT!”_ Maul voiced roared. The presence and bond within her mind tore themselves apart in the half Sith’s desperation to separate the two. The lake flickered all around Ahsoka, the storm breaking against the sky, waves thundering at her feet and then it all went away.

Ahsoka’s eyes opened, in the pool of the heart tree just as Maul shoved her away, her back slamming onto the rocky floor. She gasped and bubbles of air rushed between her lips as she struggled in the water. Maul and herself both broke to the surface at the same time, both gasping for breath as they floundered.

“Maul-Maul, I’m so sorry!” Ahsoka began. Maul’s scream ripped through the air as thunder clapped outside, both raging voices roaring through the hollow making the ceiling tremble. Pain lanced through the half Jedi’s head just like that time on the ship and she cried out, her hand grasping the pool’s rocky lip desperately.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Maul bellowed. Lighting flashed, its bright light blinding all who was within the hollow. Ahsoka cringed against the lip of the pool, her montrals gripped tight and she heard a muffled boom fill the space. Spots filled Ahsoka’s vision as she tried to open her eyes, and between flashes of flickering lightning she saw Maul frantically struggle out of the pool and leap up to the plateau.

“MAUL!” Ahsoka yelled out and reached towards him. In a flash of lighting he was gone. But the pain stayed and ghost of Maul’s screams within the tunnels of Lotho minor and the hollow of the heart tree echoed within her mind.

Ahsoka learned. She learned at a great price just who Maul is, she learned the costs of venturing within his mind. She learned. But she would’ve given any price to have stayed ignorant. She barely heard Yoda scramble off his ledge, she could scarcely feel his leather hand grip her shoulder. His questions were muted to her as the screams echoed in her mind. Thunder clapped outside and Ahsoka buried her face deep into her hands.

“What have I done?!” she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a reason I never mentioned Lotho minor until now.
> 
> I'm ready for what you guys think. I'm almost sorry.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! First off I want to say a big thank you to every comment I received from the last chapter. I'm sorry I did not get around to responding to all of them, but do know I read each and every one of them many times. I'm so grateful for everyone's kind words, they mean a lot and always get me excited to write more!
> 
> Speaking of which. I think you are all going to enjoy this chapter.

Lightning broke into the hollow in flashes of white and blue, in righteous thunderclaps that made rock and tree shake against its wrath. With each clap of lightning, the pain within Ahsoka’s mind spiked and she cringed against the lip of the pool. Scenes flashed within her eyes. Tunnels filled with metal and fire, a great white snake twisting and muttering down to something. A monster, half spider half man. And screams, always the screams that echoed within her. Ahsoka’s thoughts tumbled and bounced around her skull, unable to think as she held her head like it was about to split.

 _“HELP ME!”_ the memory of his voice shouted.

The half Jedi gasped for breath, her eyes dancing around the room, seeking an answer, a clue to what she just saw. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the hollow for an instant with bang, and she still saw nothing. _It can’t- I can’t see that again. I can’t_ feel _that again! That can’t have happened. It shouldn’t have happened! Maul, please tell me that wasn’t true, please tell me it was wrong, please-_

“Ahsoka” an old voice said. The half Jedi gasped and jolted to her right, where master Yoda’s old gnarled hand grasped her shoulder tightly. “What happened?” he asked gravely. “Something you saw- no felt something you have. What is it? What happened to _Maul_?”

Ahsoka gaped at Yoda and her heart pounded against her like it was trying to break free of her ribs. Her eyes flicked constantly to the spot in the pool where Maul was. His wake left a cold void for her stomach and an earthquake for her heart. “Did you not sense anything?” she heard herself whisper. “Did you not see in the Force that something was going wrong?!”

“Elusive the Force was that surrounded you two. Could not be seen, it was. _Allow_ me to see it, it would not” Yoda growled. “Tell me what happened, you must!”

“I…” Ahsoka began and a cold hand grasped her stomach. Hot gasps hissed between her lips as Ahsoka’s breaths became quicker and shallower. “I can’t! It was horrible- I can’t, I won’t- “

 _“MOTHER!”_ the thing in the tunnels had screamed.

“- He begged!” she began to hear herself say. “And no one came! He was alone and he suffered, and he was in so much pain and he- “

“Ahsoka” the old master voice was calm and gentle, but his hand gripped her shoulder tighter. “Calm yourself you must. Breath. Your training you must remember. One with the Force you must be.”

The half Jedi tried. She swallowed air like a fish thrown out of the water, but nothing could stop the images she saw in her mind. And she wanted it to stop, she needed it to stop. “I saw it” she whispered. “I saw…What happened to him, after he fought with Obi-wan.”

“…Hm” Yoda mumbled. “Memories?”

“Yes” she hissed and grasped at her arms. Wetness touched Ahsoka’s lips and she soon tasted salt. She could not find it in herself to rub her eyes clear. “I wish they weren’t, but they were. How…” she began to ask. _I don’t want to know!_ Her mind screamed at her, the pain in her mind amplifying it all. “How long was he gone, before Maul resurfaced?” she finished. She didn’t want to know, but she needed to.

“Ten years” Yoda said gently. “Dead, we thought he was for ten years.”

“Ten…” Ahsoka whispered and a broken sob escaped her lips as the thunder growled above her. “It’s not fair. None of it is fair!”

“What you saw, I will not ask. Not yet. Strong you are, Ahsoka. Dangerous and evil things you must have seen to be so wounded” Yoda let go of her shoulder slowly. “Come, step out of the pool.”

It seemed to take too long for Ahsoka to find strength in her muscular arms. Her arms trembled as she dragged herself out of the pool until she sat against the lip, her legs swirling in the waters. “He…did not do evil. It was done to him” she said slowly.

“Important it is to know that” Yoda said. “Explain much it does. Tell me not what you saw, but what lead you to these memories, yes.”

Ahsoka drew her hand across her mouth and sniffled as thunder growled above them. _Carefully_ she told Yoda of her crossing into his mind, of the immense lake where a storm brewed on the horizon. Of the ice across the water, the shadow beneath. She spoke shakily of the terror she felt being dragged under. Of Maul’s fear of her seeing what she saw. After that she fell silent, because after that, it was all memories of flames, snakes, madness, agony and screams. Yoda stood silently for a moment and then walked around to the side, where Maul’s clothes and Ahsoka’s boots, gloves and cloak lay.

“At fault, you are not Ahsoka” he began and gathered up the black cloak. “Know what to expect, none of us did. Blame yourself for what you saw, you cannot.” He walked back over to her and draped the cloak around her shoulders.

“I shouldn’t have seen that” she whispered. She rubbed her eyes and was grateful the tears stopped. But what she saw would not stop replaying in her mind.

“No” Yoda said plainly. “Do you know what you must do?”

“I know what I must do for any other person, master” Ahsoka said and held the cloak tightly around her cold, wet body. “But he is not any other person. He will not want pity or sympathy. I _made_ him relive those memories!”

“Then give him that, you will not. Go to him, you must. Help him, Ahsoka.”

“He will not want it” she said shakily. He had fled after all, lightning flashed and Ahsoka saw his flight all again. Except between the flashes of light and movement, she now saw his face. Fear- no worse- terror was etched on his face like a chisel carves rock. There was no hiding it, he couldn’t if he tried. Pain ached within the dark thing connecting both Ahsoka and Maul. It writhed with it. His fear had not run its course. “Okay, I won’t pity him. I won’t do that to him, but I will help” she whispered and unsteadily got to her feet. Thunder crashed around her as if a warning of what was to come. She pulled her boots on uneasily, the leather squeaking against her wet feet as she struggled them into the tight fit. The gloves came on easier, but her hands trembled so much she had to grasp her saber to settle them. _He won’t kill me_ , she told herself. Maul all but promised her that not hours ago.

“Ahsoka” Yoda’s gravelly voice growled at her side. When Ahsoka looked over at the old master, she watched as he fished within his robes and drew out his own smaller saber. “Take this, you shall. Believe I do, that you may need it.” He tossed her the saber after that, the thin silver hilt tumbling in the air like a baton. Ahsoka snatched it out of the air impulsively and looked at the cool saber rolling around her palm. Its length was almost half a hand shorter than the ones Ahsoka usually held. The durasteel material was old, worn from years and years of long use. The lines on the leather grasp nearly faded away from clawed hands gripping it tightly. It wasn’t hers, and the saber almost seemed to share her belief. _But he is right, I may need it._ Death or not, she knew there was that huge possibility that Maul may try to harm her. She did not know what to expect.

“I will help him” she said. “I will help him!” Her words were a promise, a vow across her heart. She knew that she always kept her promises, it was like her own law that refused to be broken and if it was…righteous justice always followed in its wake.

“Very well then” Yoda said. “Go child.”

Ahsoka stood motionless for a moment and then another. Being able to stand up with a plan was one thing. Facing the beast with its teeth bared was another. The storm raged on and it felt like it was giving her a message. This storm will not end until you make it, it seemed to say. _I have to help him, or these memories will never stop…_ She was not sure if she was thinking of what she saw, or what Maul lived through. _Time to do what Anakin would, act and then think,_ she thought. “Don’t wait up” she said to Yoda. And with a nod, she turned and jumped up to the plateau above her. It almost shook beneath her feet, but she forced herself to move, one step after another. The blue glow of the plant life winked out with each flash of lightning, but she pressed on. Like it was on Belderone, she could feel where he was. But she did not need the bond between them to find him. Deep into the swamps of Dagobah, hidden in the darkness where his anger exploded around him like a volcano. Maul had left tracks as he ran. Deep prints from his durasteel boots carved themselves into the roots leading away, as she followed them, scorch marks from a light saber joined them.

 _He is armed,_ she thought and began to run. As she neared the end on the heart tree’s roots the destruction began. Craters where trees once stood dotted the border, their fallen bodies snapping away branches and trunks that surrounded them in explosions. Roots reached up towards an unreachable sky like hands outstretched. Nimbly, Ahsoka ducked and jumped over them but as she moved the cold hand around her heart grasped tighter and the pain in her head ached all the more. _I could reach out to him,_ she thought and as she moved, she very nearly did and had to stop herself. _He won’t answer!_ She told herself. _And if he knows I am looking he may make sure I never do._

 _Or he will come find you himself…_ a cold voice in her mind said. She shivered and moved on. As Ahsoka ran into the swamp, the glowing light from the plants faded behind her and soon the half Jedi unclasped her saber and brought it to life. The tracks stretched on haphazardly across wood, rock and mud but they seemed almost erratic. As she moved on, Ahsoka focused on what she could feel within the bond. Rage, terror, anxiety, grief, the feelings were so raw and powerful it almost overwhelmed her. _I have to help him, I have to!_ The ground flew beneath her feet as she ran faster and faster. Soon, she began to notice still burning scorch marks on fallen trees and she knew she was growing near. Thunder and lightning shook the ground, rattling the trees in a cacophony of sound so much that she could scarcely hear anything else.

Until she heard the screams.

Ahsoka froze mid jump and stumbled over a fallen branch, barely managing to catch herself on a tree’s trunk. A primal, blood curdling shout roared with the storm, almost indistinguishable from the winds and thunder. But in the distance, a blood red saber staff ripped through trees like it was paper. She saw him then. Maul’s hands gripped his horns desperately as he twisted and convulsed on the roots of great trees. When he cast his hand out, the destruction of his saber staff and the Force destroyed all that was in his way. Great pieces of tree were ripped from the ground and hurled into the sky. Those that were not taken was burned and destroyed by the glowing red light saber singing in the air as Maul threw it.

He shouted and his face twisted into a demon’s mask of rage and hate. With his rage, the ground tremble beneath Ahsoka’s feet and the pain lance in her temple, making her gasp and clutch her head as she buckled to her knees. A dark hissing sound filled the air, and Ahsoka slowly looked up from her legs to see Maul, peering into the darkness with feverish eyes, his teeth bared menacingly. “Hate…” he whispered and Ahsoka could just barely hear him. “Hate them. I _hate_ them!” he hissed.

Dread pooled in her stomach as she realised that he may hate her so much. Lightning struck above him, a bright burst of light that turned every white for a second before the air exploded around them. The half Jedi recoiled behind a fallen tree as the noise almost seemed to shatter her. The ground tilted and spotted in her eyes and it seemed like almost hours before she could look back over the tree.

“ _She_ knows what happened…”

A spike of ice speared through Ahsoka’s back.

“Only Savage knew! Only he should know, and the secret _died_ with him! Damn her!” he shouted, his voice growing more and more erratic. “This was not supposed to happen, none of it!” he screamed again, and the ground shook once more. The tree Ahsoka hid behind began to snap up the middle forcing her to hurriedly jump back from it. Her eyes flickered between Maul, his saber staff and the two sabers strapped to her side. _I have to help him, no matter the consequences._ She knew that there would be no forgiveness from him, only anger. But she had to try, there was no other option. As thunder growled above the two, Ahsoka straightened her spine and stepped out from behind the tree, to Maul’s turned back.

“Maul” she said softly.

The half Sith spun around with a snarl so angry that it nearly outshone the wrath in his eyes. “YOU!” he yelled and pointed a long finger at Ahsoka. “You did _this_! You _forced_ me to relive all OF THAT” he roared the last words. “What gave you the right?!”

“I had no right” Ahsoka slowly walked forwards, her hands splayed peacefully. “I didn’t mean- “

“You saw all of it!” he screamed at Ahsoka. “All of which should have stayed gone! I forced myself to look away, to ignore what happened! And then _you-_ YOU came into my mind and I had to _feel,_ I had to live through those ten years of Hell again, because you could not keep out!” Maul stepped towards her, his durasteel boots ringing on the ground. His saber staff swung in his hand, the bright red beams burning the ground where he walked. The memories flashed through Ahsoka again. The fires, the snake, the abomination he was forced to be. Ahsoka’s heart sank to her stomach.

“You should not have gone through that- “

“ _I_ SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE THROUGH THAT?!” Maul bellowed. His eyes blazed in pure rage and his saber staff began to swing up through the air. Gasping, Ahsoka reached for her saber and ignited it just in time to block the red blades before they sliced through her jaw. “TEN YEARS I SUFFERED BECAUSE OF JEDI WEAKNESS!”

“It wasn’t the Jedi’s fault that you suffered!” Ahsoka said, her voice rising with each word. Maul snarled and his saber dropped low, sweeping towards her legs as he kicked a great steel boot flying to her face. Ahsoka leaped high into the air, narrowly avoiding both blows as she twisted and landed unevenly on a fallen tree. “If a fight is what will help you Maul you will get one!” she yelled down at him and took up Yoda’s saber in her left hand. The bright green glow mixed with her blue and she settled into her stance. “But I do not want to!” _I will fight if I have to!_

“Not the Jedi’s fault?! I would rather have DIED than be in that dark, awful fucking pit. I should have died, but the only reason I lived was _hate_. I wish I did not hate half as much that I do! I would not have to feel- “

Maul cut himself off as he jumped high onto the same tree as Ahsoka, the saber staff spinning over his head until he brought it down on her. Red, blue and green light spat and squealed as Ahsoka brought her two blades up, meeting his for only a glimpse of a second. “- the AGONY of being ripped in two!” the lower blade sliced through the air towards her leg and Ahsoka deflected it only to block an incoming strike that would have chopped her arm off. “I would not have had to feel pain of some wretched creature _pushing_ and _pulling_ apart bits and pieces of me over and over again until I was NOTHING!” he roared. High and low the blows rained upon the half Jedi and thunder sang around the two like an audience. Each hit she met with her sabers; each step Maul took was accompanied with the song of his saber staff forcing her to slowly back up. She could not bring herself to bring the offence to him, even when his anger made him predictable; even when every opportunity to strike shone to her like the lightning above. She couldn’t bring herself to embrace the opportunity to hurt him. Too many hurt him already.

“I would not have to feel every molecule, every atom of who I was fade! My hatred burned away every part of me that knew what it was to die!” Maul roared and thrust a kick towards her gut. Ahsoka reared up and slammed her foot atop Maul’s driving the boot into the hard wood before it could make contact. With a flick of her wrists, the half Jedi slammed to two sabers into the blades of Maul’s own, pushing the staff across his chest and held him there.

“That is not who you are!” she yelled at him. “You are not the thing I saw down there! You’re more than that Maul! You are more than what Sidious did- “

“SIDIOUS?!” the half Sith screamed and lightning struck down from above with an earthshattering crack. With a twist of his shoulders, Maul shoved Ahsoka’s sabers aside and she had to jump to the roots below to stop her from stumbling. Immediately Maul followed, his saber staff arching high in the air before he brought it down upon Ahsoka’s head. She snapped her two sabers up into cross guard that stopped the killing blow before it could split her skull. “It was _Kenobi_ , it was him and him alone who saw me fall into that pit! It was _him_ that ruined me! _HE_ was the reason I was cast aside into the filth that was that planet- He was the reason my _master_ abandoned me!” Maul shouted and threw his metal knee straight into Ahsoka’s stomach.

The blow knocked the wind out of her, and she gasp for breath as her knees buckled to the ground. For half a second, she saw a bright red-light swipe towards her face. Ahsoka flashed her fingers out and with the Force she threw the weapon away from her and out of Maul’s grasp. The red blades arced end over end and fell into the roots far away, the red glow burning in the dark. Anger stormed within Ahsoka, burning her stomach and chest. _I trusted you not to try and kill me!_ Shouting, Ahsoka dropped Yoda’s saber and with the same hand she reached out and snatched the half Sith into the sky with the Force. Maul roared in rage, but she did not give him the chance to finish as she threw him to the ground as hard as she could. The half Sith’s back slammed onto the ground with a dull thud, but he was up in an instant, his large hand outstretched. Yoda’s saber immediately rocketed into his hand and before Ahsoka could blink, the saber slashed into the blue blade of her own, pinning it- and her hand, into the ground.

The half Jedi cried out in rage as Maul’s knee dropped on her forearm where she held her saber. The other between her knees and his hand grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to the ground as he levelled the green blade to her throat. _You piece of shit!_ She swore and opened her hand to shove him off with the Force when Maul’s hand gripped tighter into her flesh.

“Do not even think about it!” the green saber inched closer. “You- you had to remind me, _didn’t you_?! Was _that_ some sadistic punishment because you resent me so, because I intended to kill your master, or for the countless other fucking reasons you have to hate me?!” he snarled.

Ahsoka gritted her teeth and leaned in closer to his face, until her throat nearly grazed the burning tip of the green blade. “I do not hate you!” she spat. “I saw what I saw, because _your_ mind forced me to!”

“DO NOT LIE TO ME!” Maul bellowed. “There is no reason for my mind to show you any of that! There was no reason- “Maul’s voice grew harsher with each word. “There was no reason for me to _feel_ it again…”

Ahsoka’s snarl slowly died on her face as his words sunk into her. She could see it all again. The fires, the snake, the metal shards, the monster and the madness. She could hear him cry for his mother. Slowly she relaxed her hand holding the saber and it rolled out of her palm, the blue light vanishing with a disappointing hiss. _I have to be better than this. I have to be better._ “I don’t hate you” she whispered.

Maul growled and the green saber twisted in his hand slightly. Lightning flashed in the sky and Maul’s eyes were sharp beacons of fire blown wide over her. The dark thing in her mind spasmed in pain and she suddenly became aware of what he felt. Humiliation, rage, terror and oddly loneliness. _He is hurting…_ she knew it from the beginning but the sadness that he hid from his face so well could not hide from her any longer. 

“Did that snake suffer?” she asked firmly, her lips pressed into a grim line.

A strange clicking noise echoed from Maul’s mouth, and his eyes became almost glossy. “Not enough” he growled.

“I wish he did” Ahsoka said honestly. “I’m not lying, Maul. You said that you know when I lie, and I believe you” she swallowed before she continued and softened her voice until it was almost gentle. “I wish…I wish that never happened to you. None of it. If I could go back and un-see everything I would. If I could go back further and kill that snake I would. If I could go back and save- “

“But you cannot!” Maul hissed. “And you cannot wish for that more than I do!” slowly, ever so slowly, the saber inched away from her face. Ahsoka felt her throat tighten painfully and she suddenly realised she _grieved_ for him. Her arm he kneeled on began to ache as Maul adjusted his weight above her. “No one came!” Maul’s voice was guttural growl, and his face began to twist as if in pain. “I- no one came until I was _gone_.”

“I understand.”

“No, you do not!” the saber at Ahsoka’s throat began to shake. “You cannot possibly understand.”

“But I do know” Ahsoka said. Thunder growled above the two and slowly, the half Jedi raised her hand that was free and reached for Maul. A menacing hiss whispered between his teeth as if a warning, but she ignored it and gently cupped his face, a finger grazing the base of a horn at his temple. His face was slightly wet, but it was not raining. The snarl on Maul’s face faded away as Ahsoka ran her thumb along the dark lines beneath his eye, feeling the soft skin gently. The half Sith’s eyes grew wide and the saber began to shake more violently in his hand.

“What can I do to help?” she asked. Something in her heart pulled strangely as she felt her fingers move by themselves, drawing and running along the hard lines of his jaw and cheekbone. Electricity danced along the tips of her fingers with every touch, making her feel each time Maul shivered, but he did not move away.

“I _do not_ need help!”

“I know. I know you think that, and I know you believe that” Ahsoka began, and the words started to pour out and they would not be stopped. “There is so much shit happening in the galaxy, and I hate that it never seems to end. You’re right. I don’t know really anything about you. We were pushed into this position because there was nothing else we could do. You told me everything that could go wrong, I refused to believe you and it all happened anyway. Dammit Maul, you’re one of the biggest assholes I have ever met” Ahsoka felt her own face twist and the stone in her throat felt so much more painful. “…But you’re the only thing that makes sense.”

Maul’s face faltered slightly, and she pressed her roaming fingers against his cheek more firmly. “I’m sorry. I really am. I’m sorry that I forced you to relive those years. I’m sorry that I had to see them. I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that. I don’t- I don’t want you to look at me and think- and see all the wrong that happened to you” Ahsoka’s lips trembled as her voice broke. She stilled her hand against his face, cupping it gently but she was desperate for him to understand. “I don’t want that, and I know you don’t either. So please tell me…How can I make this right?”

Maul’s eyes closed but his breath shook as she felt his face press into her hand. And maybe he understood her in that painful yet intimate moment. His skin was warm, and Ahsoka suddenly wished the moment would not end. His eyes opened again like lanterns revealed in the dark and Maul looked at the saber he held only inches away from Ahsoka’s throat and carefully disengaged the bright greenlight. Everything went dark again, only flashes of lightning illuminating the pair. “Ahsoka…” he said quietly, and the half Jedi shivered as he whispered her name. Suddenly the half Sith stood up, breaking off the contact suddenly, releasing her shoulder and arm. Ahsoka’s heart quickened as he stepped back, missing the contact that she needed just as much as him. But the half Jedi carefully got to her feet, never taking her eyes off him. Maul opened his mouth slightly and his golden eyes flickered away from her for a long moment. Ahsoka stayed silent and waited for him to say something when lightning cracked across the sky again. Under the shadows of the trees the mottled light danced across Maul’s body and his tattoos wove like snakes with them. It was oddly beautiful. The half Sith looked up at the flickering lightning, unaware of its effect and sighed deeply.

“Leave me.”

Ahsoka’s heart dropped into her stomach. “No” she said. “No, I don’t want to- “

“You will leave me!” Maul snapped; his eyes seeking hers and they flashed like wildfire. “This is not something you can fix” he tossed Yoda’s saber towards her, and Ahsoka quickly snatched it out of the air. With a flick of Maul’s wrist, his saber staff arched into the air like a flaming red wheel and landed in his hands. He looked at her mildly for a second and turned the saber off. “I know you are not lying. I know you…” he trailed off, for the first time he was lost for words. “Just go.” He said quietly and without another word, Maul turned and walked into the darkness that swallowed him whole.

Ahsoka opened her mouth to say something, anything to get him to turn back, but then closed it. _I can’t say anything else…_ She looked at her hand that touched Maul’s face and closed it into a tight grip. For whom he was, she almost expected his skin to feel hard, like thick armour made of metal. She expected it to be burning hot from all that anger he fuelled inside him. She was caught off guard that it was surprisingly soft and warm, pleasant to touch. But he was a man after all, as much as he wished to be a cold unfeeling thing. _This isn’t over,_ she thought to herself. She turned to return the heart tree, where she knew Yoda was waiting and waiting with questions. A sudden thought exploded in her mind that he could have been watching both Ahsoka and Maul from afar, though she did not sense his presence. The half Jedi looked at her hand with sudden dread. There was no explaining why she touched him, even she barely knew why beyond showing the half Sith some crude form of sympathy.

Angrily she tugged her hand down. The anger and fear within her were cooled significantly after her encounter with Maul. He was angry and hateful, but hoped he did not hate her anymore... _He knows I am not lying. I just have to wait now._ She didn’t want too, because even though she did not think before speaking, she knew he was the only certain thing around her right now. She sighed and looked up as Maul had. Thunder and lightning crackled over the dense trees, but soon a new melody of rain began its first pitter patter on the thick leaves above. It was a long time before she found the strength to move her feet. And by the time Ahsoka reached the welcoming glow of the heart tree, her black cloak was painted with thick swathes of rainwater. As soon as stepped foot on the glowing moss covering the roots, Yoda appeared from the base of the tree and quickly approached her.

“Troubled you look, Ahsoka” the old master said. “With you, Maul is not. What happened?”

“Everything we expected more or less” Ahsoka sighed and offered Yoda’s saber towards him. “He is very angry and in pain.”

Yoda took the saber from her hand and slipped up the sleeve of his robes. “In partnership you too are no longer?”

“We are still partners, Yoda” Ahsoka said and rubbed her face. “We are both just…processing what happened.”

“A great need there is to discover the secrets of this bond, young Ahsoka. Continue, the two of you must, despite the consequences yes.”

“If you saw what we both did then you would understand why that is a big ask” Ahsoka mumbled. “I really think Maul would never agree to more testing.”

“His willpower is weak then” Yoda said candidly. “Always will his past hunt him, confront them he must if he ever wants to be out of their shadow.”

“Maybe one day master. Shall we get out of the rain?” she said and shook off the water collecting on her cloak.

“Hmm, indeed” Yoda intoned. The pools were the only location that offered complete shelter. When Ahsoka began to build a fire on a pile of rocks beneath the plateau, Yoda immediately put a stop to it. “Fire there will not be in here Ahsoka” he said gravely. “Not beneath the roots!”

Ahsoka looked around with a scowl. There was plenty of water to stop a blaze and it wasn’t like the hollow was dry. Still not wanting to argue with her oldest master, Ahsoka kicked away the meagre amount of dry wood aside. Left alone in silence in the spot where the disaster occurred forced her to remember what she saw over and over in her mind. She had enough. “Tell me what to do, master.”

“To do? Know not what to do, I confess” Yoda said as he settled himself across from Ahsoka. “Know for myself what I must do. Stay here, in exile I must. Here I must wait for what the Force wills.”

“Wait-wait” confused, Ahsoka started, her hand bunching by her side. “But you’re to help us take down Sidious? And his empire?”

“Help I must, yes. To preserve peace. But in person? No” Yoda shook his head. “A fight between Sidious and I was fought and decided on Coruscant, young Ahsoka. Made for this war, this rebellion I am not. You and the remaining Jedi, the younger generation this war is for.”

“How can you say that?!” Ahsoka stood, outraged. “You’re content to stay here as fascism and tyranny rules this galaxy?! There is so much you can do, master!”

“There is, yes. In Dagobah, my work will begin and complete. You and Maul arriving here, may be part of my destiny here. Ahsoka…” Yoda stepped forward and touched her outstretched hand. “Often we must follow the path set before us. Little control we have even if we wish to change so many things. Take comfort we must in that Force guides us forwards yes”, the old master gave Ahsoka a soft look. “Set on a path you are, one where darkness threatens at all sides. Cautious you must be, and steadfast. Great trials await you if Maul is in your life, yes.”

“I…” Ahsoka paused and looked away. Her hand tingled with the memory of Maul’s face. “There is no chance that you can come with us?” she finished quietly.

Yoda smiled and wrapped both clawed hands over her own. “Sorry I am, young Ahsoka. Our paths diverge here. Know not, if they will ever reunite.” His words beckoned in a quiet hush across her heart, the silent coldness that wrapped around her bones. His words echoed in the hollow, whispering over again and again until they too faded away.

“You don’t know that” Ahsoka clasped Yoda’s and lowered herself to his level. “No- you can’t know that master.”

“Ah Ahsoka” Yoda said. “An end there always is. Otherwise a beginning there never would be.”

Ahsoka felt the weight of his words crash like a roof collapsed over her head. “I won’t accept that master” she collapsed to her knees. “I won’t.”

The storm raged outside the hollow, an unending torrent of rain and lightning roaring against the heart tree. For so long that Ahsoka sat by the pools and thought until time lost its meaning. Over and over her thoughts travelled from Anakin to Obi-wan, Yoda, the Jedi council and more often her thoughts travelled to Maul. Twice, Ahsoka picked up his clothes that lay abandoned by the pools and folded them, moving them around until eventually they sat by her side. She could barely sleep, and when her eyes forced themselves closed, she woke to find her head pressed into the black cloak, her fingers bunched into the tight weave. It still smelled like him. It was comforting in a way, it reminded her that Maul was still here. When the rainwater began to snake its way into the hollow and drip of the rocky plateau, Ahsoka nearly reached out to Maul, to ask him to come back. But she never did. She promised herself to wait and she meant to keep that promise. Yoda stayed with her the entire time. Sometimes they would talk and reminisce about their days on Coruscant long before the dreadful order. Other times they would sit in silence and mediate with the Force. Those times were the worst for the half Jedi. Every time she allowed her mind to drift with the Force, all she could feel was the lack of light, the barren dark wasteland where once flickering beacons of light lit up the Force like stars. And sometimes, she would feel a dark familiar flame close to her and she knew it was Maul’s. It was almost worse.

One day Ahsoka awoke and immediately noticed the quietness from outside. Thunder and lightning no longer roared and struck down against the world like it was their enemy. The rain no longer fell from the sky in merciless bullets but sighed softly against the trees in gentle waves. With a glance, Ahsoka looked over at Yoda who mediated on the ledge before the pools, his face peaceful and still. _It has been long enough,_ Ahsoka thought and slowly stood to her feet. She decided she would not reach out to Maul, but she could at least see him from afar. Gentle swathes of rain kissed her skin as Ahsoka stepped out of the hollow and quickly she flicked the cowl of the cloak over her face. Deep puddles and ponds of water splashed up over her calves as she moved quickly through roots and undergrowth. She did not know where she was going, only that she had to.

 _I wonder if he’s hungry,_ Ahsoka thought as she jumped over a fallen tree and suddenly, she remembered what she said to Maul over a fire. _“Takes a stomach to be hungry”_ Ahsoka cringed at the memory and guilt swamped her. _What the fuck is wrong with me?!_ She hissed and smacked herself upside the head. Still, its been at least over two days since she saw him, she could not help but wonder how he was doing…

Ahsoka walked for hours aimlessly over and under trees and their roots. She could feel Maul of course, but it was never a precise location, which she was glad. If she knew exactly where he was then he would know exactly where she was. And for this it was better if he never knew she was there at all. _I will make this quick, just a check in to make sure he’s okay,_ she told herself. But a quiet niggling feeling sat in the centre of Ahsoka’s chest. A desperate feeling that forced her to move faster and faster. _I mean realistically_ , _why should I look for him?_ She thought and pushed aside thick, ropey vines sprawling off the trees. _I should because of what has happened…But why? He won’t want me anywhere near him at all!_ As if in defiance, the feeling only grew worse as she walked. Despite all the bad that happened Ahsoka also couldn’t help but remember who Maul _is_. _And that makes this so much harder,_ she sighed, but just then she heard something…

Ahsoka’s lekku twitched as a strange and ghostly call echoed off the trees around her. The haunting noise rose and fell then all at once fell silent. It stood far apart from the cries of beasts that lurked in the swamp, it sounded softer, almost beautiful like an exotic bird. But even more strangely, the noise was familiar. _Could that be…_ hesitating for only a second Ahsoka leaped to the thick branch above her head, landing eloquently before jumping to the next, and then another branch of another tree. Carefully she pursued the strange noise that came deep within the swamp. As she grew closer, the noise became clear.

Singing.

Ahsoka immediately froze on the branch she landed on and stared out to thick line of trees and growths before her. _It’s him! I shouldn’t…_ Ahsoka turned to jump back the way she came, yet the melody almost coaxed her towards it. _He doesn’t want me here!_ she told herself as she turned back around. _This is private I shouldn’t!_ she thought angrily as she jumped up to the highest branch in the neighbouring tree. _I shouldn’t…._ her thoughts trailed off as she hunkered down underneath low handing leaves and branches and peered out to the view in front of her. Down below the reaching arms of trees, beneath the shadowed canopy of leaves and vines, sat Maul. Leaned against the trunk of a gnarled and ancient tree, his eyes looked upwards into the dark ceiling of foliage where thin rays of light struggled weakly to pierce through the plants. But they did, and the sun caught his eyes turning them into a burnished gold. With eyes turned up to the sun, Maul sang and Ahsoka felt her bones bind themselves to her spot by his words alone. And Force, it was beautiful.

 _If I had to describe your singing it would like trying to describe starlight._ There were so many words she could use and yet nothing would ever come close to hearing it, to be almost part of it. His words grew in mournful strength. With each syllable, the words carried the power of warriors marching to battle. With each melody his deep smooth voice echoed the sadness of dying man sighing its last breath. Ahsoka sat there for so long her knees began to ache and when Maul’s song finally finished, she realised hours must have passed. The half Sith sat in silence, his red hand propping up the side of his face. There was sadness in his eyes she. It softened his face, quelling the rage and hate that was etched into him constantly. She wished he would snarl and rage at the world as he once did. She wished he would sneer and look down on the world at his feet. But he did not. Ahsoka sat back disquietly as the feeling in her chest grew like snaking vines up a building.

She cared about him. _I don’t!_ she thought desperately. _I can’t ever care for someone like him!_

 _But you do,_ a voice whispered back. _Because he is the only thing that makes sense. You have no one else, not even Yoda._

Ahsoka looked up at the sunlight, trying to burn away her thoughts with the first golden rays of light she had seen in what felt like so long. A drop of water fell down the many leaves above her head only to splash delicately on her nose when she discovered something. _I may be the only thing he has too._

She did not know if that made her feel better or worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOF, look at that we got some bonding, some intimacy and a lovely face touching moment. Did I want to write a hug? Absolutely, but PATIENCE people! If Ahsoka hugged Maul I'm pretty sure he would freak out. The man was freaking out and super super touch starved. But he will get his hug don't worry ;)
> 
> As always your guys support helps me so much! Until next time xxxooo


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Yay another chapter and a big one too. This chapter is a little more light hearted than the previous 2 (I think we needed it) but i'm really happy with how it turned out! I'm posting this at 1am so i'm too brain dead after editing to say much other than ENJOY!

Dagobah was a predictable planet. There was always rain and thunder promised every second day. There are always huge, old trees to guard the hidden pools of water and darkness that cloaked every inch. Yet it was so rare for the winds that blustered the tops of trees, that snaked and danced within the lofty clouds above to touch the grounds of Dagobah. On that day within the year 19BBY the winds found a weakness in the tree’s dense armour. Down a cavity where an old sentinel once stood, the wind pushed its way through undergrowth, roots, rock and fern. It drove against the pools of water, forming sharp ripples against their currents. It circled and blew against the tattooed back of a Zabrak gently like an embrace, yet he sat unflinching as he gazed upon a pond, almost unaware of the presence at his back. The wind carried on regardless of who or what stood in its way, and many things like the Zabrak almost did not notice its brief presence. Except for the Togruta, settled against the heart tree.

Ahsoka opened her eyes as the wind brushed over her montrals and nose, ushering in a fleeting sweet smell amongst the humidity even for a moment. It made her feel better, it even cleared her head. It was daytime on Dagobah, but only briefly. Night lasts longer than the glimpses of day light and lingered far for longer still. She lounged in the spotted pieces of light that managed to penetrate the foliage above, though the blue glow of the fauna still was the dominant source of light. _It’s been another three standard rotations roughly_ ; she thought and rubbed her nose. Three days since she listened to Maul sing. She tried to rationalise her intrusion, that she just invaded his privacy for the fourth time since their strange partnership. Three out of those four times she felt like it wasn’t her fault. _Well maybe the fourth time…_ She was told not to listen to him sing. Grumbling under her breath, Ahsoka flicked away a small rock and drew it back to her with the Force. _How long will he stay out there?_ Flick. The rock clattered on a root and quickly returned to her side. _It’s been seven rotations and he hasn’t come back for food or his clothes._ Flick. _He hasn’t contacted me_. Flick. _I don’t know what he’s doing_. Flick. _He may even go off planet at this rate and leave me here!_ Cursing, Ahsoka threw the pebble and it hurled off into the distance. _He better fucking not!_

“Troubled, Ahsoka?” Yoda’s sage like voice said from above her.

Ahsoka craned her neck up and stared dully at the old master standing on a branch above her. “And you’re not?” she replied.

“A Sith, travelling unwatched on this planet is cause for more than concern yes” Yoda nodded. “Sulking he is, wallowing in self-pity too. It goes nowhere and tired of it, I am. Abiding it for your sake I must, but this- “he gestured vaguely around him. “Wastes time.”

Ahsoka opened her mouth, about to voice his sympathetic needs for what happened and then stopped. _I doubt he would be so nice about_ my _needs if I were in his spot. And Yoda does have a point…_

“I’ll _try_ and talk to Maul” she sighed and rolled her head. “But he is one of the most stubborn- I will try” she finished. “I agree that doing nothing is getting more and more annoying.”

Yoda hummed in agreement and resettled himself on the branch. “…Trust him, I do not.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Fruitful, this bond between you two may not be.”

“You don’t know that- “

“Recommend, that you leave here. And leave him here too.”

“And leave you to deal with him?!” Ahsoka offendedly turned to Yoda again. “And just abandon him! I did make a deal with him master!”

“One would not blame you for breaking that deal. To himself alone his allegiances lay. Not to you!”

“But I can’t just- “Ahsoka cut herself off and pinched the bridge of her nose. _I can’t just do that after everything…_ The niggling feeling in her chest remained after all. The one feeling that she resented for being there and also couldn’t ignore. “I’ll talk to him and…work this all out, whatever the outcome.” _Trust me in that please._

“…If this fails, consider what I said, young Ahsoka” Yoda said.

 _It won’t fail,_ she told herself resolutely. _I won’t allow it._ Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka shunted aside her misgivings and anger for a moment and considered the dark bond settled in her mind. It made her feel queasy, feeling it within her. Like at any moment she would touch it and be dragged back onto the ice above the lake. And the shadow that waited beneath it. _That won’t happen…_ Tentatively at first, Ahsoka brushed her presence against the bond and felt it twitch accordingly. There was no response. Again, Ahsoka reached out for the bond and it withered once more. A spike of annoyance flowed quickly from it and she knew Maul could feel it. _Oh, come on!_ Resolutely she knocked against, done with the gentle nudging. Suddenly two angry yellow eyes blinked into life within her mind making Ahsoka jolt with surprise.

 _“What is it?!”_ Maul demanded angrily, his voice a tight growl.

 _“We need to talk”_ Ahsoka responded calmly.

 _“There is_ nothing _to talk about.”_

 _“It’s about Sidious”_ Ahsoka lied.

Maul paused for a moment and his eyes glinted dangerously. _“You are lying.”_

Ahsoka angrily chastised herself that he so easily called her bluff but tried to work it to her favour. _“Sitting around this swamp doesn’t get us any closer to Sidious. I just want to talk about our next move and anything else you want.”_ As soon as she said the last part, she regretted it and waited tensely for his response. Maul’s eyes blazed at her words, but he was silent for a long moment.

 _“Fine. You will find me west of the heart tree”_ With that the contact through the bond was cut short and Ahsoka opened her eyes again.

 _Good thing I know where he is._ She knew he was in the same spot where she watched him sing. _Would be easier if he just came here!_ But Yoda was here, and something told her that his presence would antagonise the half Sith greatly. “Hey” Ahsoka said and looked up again at the old master. “Maul agreed to meet. It will be fine; we are going to talk. But I don’t know how long I will be gone.”

“Go with you, shall I?”

“Ah…No” Ahsoka shook her head quickly. “I think it will be best if I just go.”

“Hm, very well. Need this will you?” he drew out his saber once more. Ahsoka eyed it for a moment and shook her head again.

“He isn’t angry at me. I doubt anything will happen” _I hope not at least…_ With that, the half Jedi stood and made her way to the hollow. Maul did not ask, likely thinking that asking for his things was beneath him. But it has been five rotations since he last ate and nights on Dagobah were cold. _Perhaps he won’t be so moody if he has some food and warm clothes…_ She slipped inside and jumped to the bottom next to the pools, where the backpack, her cloak and his shirt sat beneath the plateau. Quickly she donned the cloak, adjusting the pleats over her shoulders before slipping on the pack and then gathered up his wide belt and shirt. They were heavier than expected, particularly the belt. Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka looked up at the plateau and leaped onto it before leaving the hollow. Leaving the heart tree felt surprisingly good to Ahsoka. It was far more gruelling for her to sit around and do nothing when she could be doing anything else.

Roots of the trees flew under foot with as she made her way towards that hidden grove where she saw Maul sing. Halfway there she stopped and zig zagged across the area, pretending that she had to find where he was. He was a paranoid man. If she arrived too soon it was all too likely he would suspect her knowledge of his location. Ahsoka gently brushed aside a curtain of vines and stepped into the clearing she saw only a handful of rotations ago. And there he was. His arms were held behind his back but his strong form an even darker silhouette against the mottled lightness and darkness. The half Jedi paused as she saw him, her boots suddenly stuck to the ground as a medley of thoughts hit her like a speeder. The sun spotted trees sighed in a breeze like a song, and with the song came the memories of his deep voice that sang with them. Ahsoka’s fingers tightened in her cloak as she remembered and her heartbeat against her ribs strangely. She suddenly wished she approached him sooner. Swallowing, Ahsoka forced her fingers free of the cloak and stepped forwards, but her boot splashed noisily in a thin puddle. Maul spun around quickly, his burning eyes spotting her in an instant. His brow lowered and he regarded her with a quietness that almost deafened the calls of the swamp.

“…Hey” she said softly.

“Lady Tano” Maul replied stonily.

 _Not Ahsoka…_ Ahsoka thought and uncomfortably shouldered the backpack. Respect or not, she appreciated it more when he used her name. Shrugging off the feeling she walked towards him, matching his stare evenly. But as she drew closer, her eyes flicked over his body quickly, it was hard not to. His body stood out so much against the dull trees and vegetation. Scratches ran over his shoulders, speckled bits of dried blood dripping off the edges, and bruises the colour of the darkest Twi-lek wine spilled over his ribs. _How did he get those…_ She suddenly remembered throwing Maul into the sky and slamming him into the ground during their fight. _Oh. I hurt him._ Standing before him made her uncomfortably aware how unscathed she was. Maul’s eyes regarded her evenly, but those burning eyes peered into her own like he knew her every thought.

“Are your ribs okay?” she asked, forcing indifference into her voice.

“I have survived far worse” Maul growled, his eyes flaring. “We both know that now.”

Ahsoka tried not to wince and ended up rolling her shoulders again. “…I brought your things” she said and pulled off the backpack, offering it to him with outstretched arms. Maul said nothing and after a moment an uneasy tension grew between them. “You should’ve returned” she found herself saying. “That was a bad storm and it’s been five rotations since you last ate.”

“I have endured in harsher conditions. As we _both_ know” he growled and stepped towards her. “I do not want _charity_ , lady Tano.”

Ahsoka grit her teeth as the uncomfortableness grew and forced her face into a hard shape. “It is not charity if they are your things!” she said and dropped the bag on the ground. “And I’m not doing this out of charity. What am I going to do if you die before we fight Sidious?”

“Oh please, a few days without food will not kill me” he snapped, his lips pulled up in a tight sneer. She could almost hear the unsaid ‘as we both know’ and crossed her arms defensively across her chest. _What should I do about this…?_ She thought. The last thing she wanted was to argue with him. But the cold hostility she felt like a warning sign of one brewing on the horizon. _Jedi’s are peacekeepers, so peace keep Ahsoka! Think of something!_ But suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Ahsoka saw a curtain of vines stir in the wind. As the thick lengths of green parted a long dark corridor opened to her, its walls and ceiling impenetrable and leading who knows where. _If he won’t let me come to him, then he must come to me._ A devilish idea sprang to mind, and it was all she could do to stop a little smile curling her lips.

“Well, I guess you don’t want your things” she sighed with a roll of her eyes, gazing off oh so sadly into the trees over Maul’s shoulder. “And I came all this way to help…”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Oh no. Don’t mind me Maul” Ahsoka nodded sagely. Casually she reached down and snatched the backpack up before tossing it over her shoulders. “All right!” she sighed happily and gave Maul her brightest, toothiest smile. The half Sith recoiled and stared at her like she was some beastly abomination, all the while glancing between her eyes and smile like he was wary she was about to go rabid and bite him. The dark bond within Ahsoka’s mind twitched and suddenly she felt how perplexed and confused Maul felt. It was all she could do to not laugh in his face, his expression alone nearly did that already. 

“What the fuck are you- “

“Well, I’m off!” Ahsoka cut in suddenly and turned towards the curtain of vines, marching for it purposefully.

“Wait. Where are you going?!”

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to go and be _charitable_.”

“Those are _my_ things!” Maul shouted at her.

“Yeah, but there was this huge warty… amphibian I think it was? Yes, that was it. You see I saw this massive amphibian in a pond not too far from here” Ahsoka began and pulled the bag over to her chest where she rummaged around. “It was fat, stinky and _covered_ in warts, but I felt bad for the poor thing- still do! I couldn’t help but feel the old fatty was _cold_.” Grinning, Ahsoka found her quarry and pulled out Maul’s dark shirt wear from the bag and held it above her head like a flag.

“You would not DARE!”

“Sorry, couldn’t catch that!” Ahsoka called over her shoulder and parted the curtain of vines before her. “Did you just say, ‘I would not care’? Well good, the big old boy would love a nice shirt to wear I think- “Footsteps thundered towards her and Ahsoka and she couldn’t help but grin as the shirt was yanked out of her grasp.

“Do not _test_ me, Jedi!” Maul seethed, his bright golden eyes burning with indignation. He jostled the shirt in a bunched fist under Ahsoka’s nose. “You said you wished to discuss future plans, not taunt me like I am some _youngling_!”

Ahsoka softened her smile into a slight curl of her lips and nodded her head towards the dark corridor before them. “I do. Will you walk with me?”

“Why do you want to walk down there?” he asked, his voice still a harsh growl in his throat.

“It just looks interesting” Ahsoka responded. Without another word, Ahsoka stepped through the parted vines and began a slow easy walk down the pitch corridor. She did not turn to check if Maul was following, but she heard him utter a curse under his breath and his heavy boots thudded on the ground behind her. _Good,_ she thought. Who knew some innocent teasing was enough to bring him to heel?

In silence they walked. It was too dark for Ahsoka to make out much of the tunnel. Only two people of normal stature could walk side by side, it was too narrow for anymore and the ceiling was shallow. She also could not see its end but was barely able to make out tightly knitted weaves of wood and vines that made up the ceiling, walls and floors of the corridor. Idly she plucked a large and leathery leaf from the wall and fingered it as Maul shrugged on his shirt and belt. That was good too, she did not like how quickly her eyes flickered to his muscular figure. When he was dressed, Maul quickened his pace until he walked abreast to her, his hands clasped behind his back casually. Sighing Ahsoka fluttered the leaf around her fingers before letting it fall to the ground unseen in their wake. “Yoda will not come with us to fight Sidious” she said.

Maul grunted and rolled his shoulders. “What is he, a coward?”

“No” Ahsoka bit her lip to stop her from defending her master. _He won’t care for any of Yoda’s qualities!_ “He believes the Force guided him here for a greater purpose, that he should stay here to complete it!” Ahsoka could not help the anger that darkened her voice. She could scarcely believe the old master would do nothing and sit here to wait for who knows how long. “He says this fight is not for him. It is for the younger generation, for those who remain to fight.”

“And this has thrown off what little plans you have already formed in your mind?” Maul’s deep voice echoed down the corridor.

“In a way, yes” she sighed. “When is saw him…I was more hopeful than ever that Sidious’ empire would be stopped. That his rule could be stopped before it really started. And now…”

“…Then you have so little faith.”

“I have faith!”

“What happened to that rage I saw on the ship when we left Belderone? You were more zealous than ever to kill that bastard, lady Tano.”

“Pure anger and hate is _not_ enough to stop this, Maul” Ahsoka said and glanced over to the half Sith who met her eyes instantly. They reflected what little light infiltrated the corridor and shone at her like stars. “If it was, I don’t think you would’ve wanted to work with me.”

Maul grunted and looked away from her with a sneer. “I am not arrogant enough to believe I could stop him by myself alone.”

“So, you admit your arrogance?” she asked cheekily.

“I _admit_ to my experience!” he snapped.

Ahsoka suddenly froze in her tracks, a cold feeling settling in her chest. “Wait, you have fought him recently?!”

“On Mandalore” Maul muttered and stopped a few paces ahead of her. “Long before our own fight there.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this?!” Ahsoka exclaimed to his back.

Maul turned around suddenly and regarded her with cool eyes. “That fight cost me my brother…That fight cost me much of the little hope I had to see Sidious’ end. Savage was strong, he was a powerful apprentice! And Sidious folded him under foot like he was little better than some pathetic insect…There I realised if he were to end, I would need more than just an apprentice. I would need an equal.”

Ahsoka gapped at him and angrily scrunched her hand into a tight fist. “What else happened?”

“I was captured.”

“And?!”

“And I escaped!” Maul growled and strode towards the half Jedi. “I learned nothing during my captivity and torture other than that his apprentice _at the time_ , was weak. And Sidious was stronger than ever!”

“You met Dooku?”

“I met him and captured both he and that disgusting abomination of a droid on Dathomir. Grievous, his name was.”

“You captured _both_ Dooku and Grievous?!”

“As if it was hard” Maul rolled his eyes. “But it did not come without a cost. Sidious heard of their fall at my hands. Whether he acted to stop information from spreading to the republic on how _simple_ it was to crush the opposition under foot, or whether he acted simply due to his disdain for me I do not know. The results were the same. My clan of Night brothers and sisters was wiped out through my actions, lady Tano!” Maul’s voice shook at the end, his eyes were feverish and wide. “And my rage and hate could not stop him!”

“I…” Ahsoka trailed off, her eyes drifting to the side. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“Stop saying ‘sorry’!” Maul exclaimed. “It does not change anything.”

“I know. I know it doesn’t” Ahsoka ran a hand down her face as she leaned against the corridor’s prickly wall. “Back on the escape shuttle. After the order…” she shivered before she continued. “Sidious was looking for you, before you didn’t really know why. What about now?”

“He was likely looking for me to kill me” Maul muttered. “On Mandalore he called me a rival. He has been emperor for barely a month’s standard rotation, the strength of his position is _tenuous_ ” he waved his hand as if to wipe away a miasma. “But only for now. I said before but I will say it again. He is seeking to destroy any and all threat whenever he has the opportunity. From his knowledge he would have known I was captured on Mandalore, but also knows I survived order 66. He _believes_ I am weakened and have no allies” he nodded to Ahsoka. “But he doesn’t know about you if that problem on Belderone went under his nose. You want to act, and I agree. Soon, we must have revenge soon! Sidious will be keeping Vader under leash but also far from his side because he is also a threat.”

“How do you know this?” Ahsoka asked quickly.

“Because that is what he did to me when _I_ was his apprentice” Maul hissed. “We are but beasts beneath his table that receives either scraps or his boot. To him ‘apprentice’ is but a word. Most of what we learn we learn on our own, and if master does not like it…” the half Sith snapped his fingers. “He finds a new apprentice.”

“But that also means Vader is not an issue yet!” Ahsoka gestured and stepped towards the man. “We must act soon!”

“Our position is just as weak and fragile unlike Sidious’, Ahsoka” Maul said using her name and the half Jedi blinked as he said it.

“So, we need our own allies and infrastructure!” Ahsoka said.

“But can we afford either?” Maul stepped towards her too.

Ahsoka paused for a long moment and thought. There was really only one real answer to that. “With us together, it will be difficult but not impossible.”

“How so?”

“There _will_ be more people other than us looking to fight. We must align ourselves with them. But it will be difficult because of who you are…”

“Precisely!” Maul growled. “People would be foolish not to question my allegiances due to my past.”

“But not impossible” Ahsoka repeated. She breathed deeply and spread her fingers peacefully. “I trust your allegiances and I am a hard audience to win over.”

“Yes, that is true, but I will have to convince a hypothetical rebellion not a singular individual. They will not be like Death Watch nor the complacent people of Mandalore.”

“They will be blood thirsty for the same person as us. And I will help convince them!” Ahsoka said stoically.

“Hm” Maul half smiled at her and Ahsoka was taken aback at the site. It transformed his face so much. “I am surprised that your – I hesitate to name it ‘loyalty’ – comforts me…” he trailed off as he finished and looked half surprised that he said it himself. Ahsoka’s face felt warm and when he smiled at her… _Name ‘it’ friendship_ , she thought suddenly, and her face warmed even more. _Is that what we are? Friends?_

Maul growled under breath and shook his head like there was some annoying gnat buzzing around his ears. “The air in here is getting cloying” he muttered and began to walk down the corridor once more. Ahsoka quickly shook her head too as if to shake away her shock and quickly moved to his side as they walked. “We need to think these plans through _thoroughly_ ” the half Sith said. “You are aware that these plans may only be followed through a long time from now? Despite what we say about acting fast.”

“I’m aware that that is more likely how things will pan out than not” Ahsoka said softly. “I would rather it didn’t, not with people being trapped under his rule. But Sidious may get complacent with his role.”

“I have known that man since infancy. He has never been complacent.”

Ahsoka sighed and idly rubbed the end of her lekku. “Yeah…”

The walk continued in silence through the dark passage of the corridor. Shoulder to shoulder the half Jedi and Sith walked, at ease almost as if they had known each other for far longer than a month. “Your Jedi council was slow in some regards to act were they not? I am not sure how you had the means to face me with a legion, but you managed it with an army under the Jedi jurisdiction”

Ahsoka considered what he said for long moment. “I had to very nearly force people to let me confront you. And even then, it was only because Anakin…” she trailed off as she said his name. The last smile he gave her before she left burned in her memory like a festering wound. “Only because he gave me his own battalion.”

Maul grunted and folded his hands behind his back. “We must be sure that our own methods are not so reluctant.”

“I can agree to that” Ahsoka muttered.

In the distance a small patch against the wall became less dark than its surroundings. Not the radiant light permeating the end of the pitch tunnel, but a small, discoloured patch. More green and blue than white. The had nearly reached the end. The two quickened their steps at the sight, both eager to see the new territory awaiting them. Breaching the opening was like stepping through a dark shell on an idle beach. The world within the corridor contained the near dark words left behind, not forgotten, never that. But left behind in waiting for another innocuous word slipped through lips of hers or his. Ahsoka came to Maul under the pretence of vengeful and malicious action and inaction. But more than anything she desired closure. Perhaps Maul wished for that anonymously also. Sunlight greeted their face, collar bones and hands. Seeking them out to slip between their skin, warming them gently. The half Jedi smiled slightly at the touch and admired the trees around the two. A tangle of great roots overlapping one and another created a large and flat platform surrounded by a wall of huge sentinels. Ahsoka realised after a second that it looked strangely like an arena…

“You said on the ship” Ahsoka began. “That you wished to spar and make it as dangerous as possible” she gestured to the arena around them. “I think here is a good spot.”

Maul snorted but his eyes lit up with mild anticipation. “It will not be a fair fight. You only seem to have one saber right now” his eyes flickered to Ahsoka’s waist where the thin blue saber waited. “Your frog master seems to have left you unprepared…”

“Oh please” Ahsoka rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her waist. “I fought with only one saber long before I fought with two. If anything, _you_ are in trouble! You won’t be able to predict me.”

“Cocky” Maul raised a brow and slowly removed his saber staff from his side. “I seem to remember the last time we fought it did not end so well for you.”

Ahsoka looked at her feet as she remembered their fight under the thunder and lightning. _I didn’t fight you then…_ she thought. Her hand tingled as if remembering the feel of his face in her palm. Ahsoka shook her head quickly and quickly unclasped her own saber with a fake smile. “Let’s make this challenging then” she said. “We switch weapons.”

“What?” Maul frowned at her. “Then this will not be interesting at all. You have no experience with a saber staff.”

“Oh, and how do you know that?”

“Because of how you bloody well handled it when we escaped onto the shuttle! This isn’t some weapon that you can smack around like a stick. If you do not mind the second blade you _will_ cut- “

“Maul” Ahsoka stepped towards him. “Have a little faith. I think learning a new weapon will be useful and who knows, you may need to touch up on your saber work yourself.” Maul growled under his breath and Ahsoka offered her saber to the half Sith. She felt some shame that she already recognised it as her saber and not the little girl’s. “Come on, it could be fun.”

“I have never associated fun with sword play” Maul said.

_You don’t seem the type of person who has fun at all._

“But if you insist, lady Tano” Maul lowered himself into a mocking bow and then tossed his large staff at her. Ahsoka snatched it out of the air immediately and threw her own to him. Maul straightened as he grabbed it smoothly and weighed the weapon in his hands.

“Try and make it challenging for me” Ahsoka smirked and easily glided into her stance. The saber staff felt very heavy in her hand

“You really do not seem to remember our last fight.”

“And you don’t seem to remember our first.”

“Well I will see to it that you remember this one.” The blue saber ignited with a hiss and he held it before him with a smirk. The saber staff held slightly behind Ahsoka roared into life and a bead of cold sweat ran down the nape of her neck as heat blasted near her calf. Still anticipation burned away in her heart and through the bond the half Jedi felt just how eager Maul was to fight. But just like last time, Ahsoka felt some dark power fill her as she held the half Sith’s weapon. She was a master of two sabers, fantastic wielding a singular one. And the idea of growing comfortable with a saber staff filled her with excitement that she felt as a youngling crafting her saber for the first time.

“I’ll try not to kill you” she boasted.

“And I you” with that Maul rushed towards her, the bright light of the blue cresting in the air brilliantly. Ahsoka leaped forwards and brought the saber staff arching before her face in a blaze of red. Blue and crimson light spat and squealed against each other like water on a hot metal for a fraction of a second, but then the half Jedi swung the lower blade up towards Maul’s durasteel legs. The half Sith leaped high, somersaulting over Ahsoka’s head before landing elegantly behind her, the blue blade lashing out for her back. Ahsoka spun the staff like a pinwheel and twisted in her step, knocking the blue light away from her in a collision of sparks that danced in Maul’s eyes. Ahsoka could not stop herself from grinning as she drew herself in a lashed a front kick directly for Maul’s stomach. There was a dark thrill building in her chest, so much so the bond between them burned with it.

Maul grabbed her by the ankle and the grin froze on her face as he leaned in and _threw_ her away from him. Yelping, Ahsoka flipped herself forwards and kicked her legs out just in time to spring off a large tree fencing in their arena. “You are lucky, lady Tano!” Maul called to her as he arrogantly strolled forwards. “I could have removed your foot for you!” He swished the blue saber up and down lazily.

“Then you would have lost the hand that did it!” she replied with a wryer smile.

“Why? You have limbs to spare unlike myself” Maul said with faux seriousness.

 _Oh, he cannot…_ Without giving him room to say more Ahsoka spun the saber staff over her head before lunging towards him and thrusted it towards his chest. Back and forth the two attacked, parried and blocked. Their blades flowed together like tides in the ocean only to part just as quickly. As they fought the bond between them buzzed harmoniously like a sixth sense. Through it, it was as if Ahsoka could feel his moves before he struck and for Maul, the same. Blows still fell upon the two though. A punch anticipated was not always avoided for both sides. Soon Maul’s lips was split with a sharp smack of Ahsoka’s elbow. And a heavy right hook to Ahsoka’s kidneys left her side smarting for hours after. But they never stopped, even as the day trudged forward in its hours until night heralded above the leafy roof of the arena. Energy the half jedi had never experienced before burned through her to press on as her face and back became slick with sweat. Her strong body never failed her, even as their battle took them soaring into the lofty tops of trees, leaping and cresting branch to branch in their fervour. And when their gold and blue eyes met, enjoyment flashed between each glance like a fire burning at the back of a dark cave. It was there that Ahsoka saw Maul smile. A true smile in the shape of a broad and toothy grin that caught the light of the sabers just for a second, but it was placed within her memories without her realising. _You look so much younger when you smile,_ she thought. It was almost enough to throw her off. Blue and red light hissed and whispered like a lethal song and Ahsoka realised that this was not true fighting anymore.

It was a dance.

 _Is this the bond?_ Ahsoka thought as she spun the saber staff overhead, deflecting a hail of blows from the blue saber. _It must be…_ Both Maul and Ahsoka leaped off the branch, flipping in the air simultaneously until they landed on the ground, though Maul’s boots boomed as they made impact. Ahsoka’s chest heaved or breath but she immediately spun the saber staff in hand, ready for another onslaught of offense from the half Sith. Maul’s breaths came quick and heavy, his bright eyes alight and boring into her own intensely. He tossed his head for a second, fingers flaring on the grip of Ahsoka’s saber, but it was enough for Ahsoka. She did not need the bond to feel how exhausted he was. _Five days without food and he stood toe to toe with me in our…fight._

“You had enough?” the half Jedi panted and forced her aching arms straight. The two red beams hummed like a swarm of locusts, almost lusting for bloodshed.

“Please, you look fit to collapse!” Maul grunted. But as soon as he said it, he immediately turned off the blue light saber and his arms collapsed to his sides. “But I will not give you the disrespect of making you yield.”

“Me yield?” Ahsoka muttered between raspy breaths. “I’m pretty sure it was _me_ that had you on the ropes!”

“You have a selective memory.”

Ahsoka laughed and tiredly staggard out of her low crouching form. The saber staff hummed unhappily but she pressed a button and the blades fell silent as the grip piece lolled in her hands. “That was…interesting” she whispered and hefted the staff.

“Yes, though you were not fighting to kill me” Maul said and rolled his head from side to side.

“Well of course I wasn’t.”

“Next time you will.”

“You weren’t exactly fighting to kill me either” Ahsoka sighed but her eyes were transfixed with the saber staff. It was so heavy, and the grip piece was longer than the length of her elbow to fingertips. _What if a saber staff was made that could function as a singular weapon_ and _dual sabers?_ Her eyes widened excitedly at the thought. _I would have to collect more kyber crystals. Hopefully, there are some out there that call to me also-_

“I would like my saber staff back Lady Tano” Maul’s deep voice said above her. Ahsoka snapped out of her revere and jolted as she looked up from the weapon to find the half Sith standing right before her.

Ahsoka blinked and glanced back at the weapon for half a second. “I was just thinking about a saber design…” she said and slowly extended the staff to Maul.

“Hm, you liked fighting with this?” Maul asked curiously and took the weapon, only to replace it with her own thin grey saber.

“It was fascinating” Ahsoka said and strapped the saber to her side. Turning, Ahsoka grabbed the discarded backpack with the Force and it shot into her hand like iron drawn to a magnet. Quickly she fished out a large water canister and began to unscrew the top. “But I think it would be a difficult weapon to use in closed spaces.”

“You can activate only one side” Maul said and began to carefully stretch out his shoulders and neck.

Ahsoka nodded and freed the canister of its lid. Quickly she brought the vessel to her mouth and greedily drank down mouthfuls of processed water, the cold fluids stinging her parched throat. “Ah!” she sighed appreciatively and idly went to recap the canister but stopped as Maul coughed pointedly. Ahsoka glanced up and was met with the intently burning gaze of the Zabrak whose eyes flickered from her to the bottle meaningfully. _Oh, he wants…_ The concept of sharing something with him was strangely _familiar._ It was something she would do with Rex, Anakin, Obi-wan. Really anybody from the Jedi council. _Don’t be foolish, I’m not going to make him drink swamp water!_ She only dimly realised weeks ago on the shuttle; she would not have cared if he had anything to drink at all. 

“Here” she said and casually tossed Maul the canister. He removed the lid quickly and tilted his head upwards as he quaffed the contents. _Well I guess I need to find more clean water soon…_ Ahsoka’s face pulled into a frown as the half Sith very nearly drained the contents. “What I was thinking about a saber design” she began. “For a saber staff that can be separated into two regular light sabers and then reattach themselves.”

Maul drained the bottle with an appreciative sigh and then looked at her with a curious fire burning in his eyes. “A new weapon, hm” he hummed and tapped the side of his jaw. “What you propose could be possible but challenging to craft. I do not know of any designs Sith or Jedi that featured a saber staff that can function as dual sabers.”

“Neither do I. But I used to love engineering things and messing around with machinery. I did make my original sabers after all. The ones I _lost_ on Mandalore…” she added pointedly. It still hurt that they were gone. Her belt still felt unusually light without them, even though she only had them for a short period of time.

“That does not sound like a problem that concerns me” Maul smirked and Ahsoka growled in indignation. “Well, did you bring food in that?” he nodded to the backpack.

“Hm, I’m not hungry” she lied and inspected her nails. “Kinda sounds like a you problem.”

“Of for fuck’s sake” Maul grumbled. “Tell me more about this saber design as we eat. I am also experienced with engineering and weapon craft.”

Soon, both Ahsoka and Maul collected a reasonable amount of dried wood and plant litter they found lying around the arena and kindled together a small fire. Sitting almost next to each other, Ahsoka discussed the vague mechanics she thought of on the spot as she handed Maul protein shakes and pulled out a new box of smoked meats. As soon as both took the first mouth full of food, saber talk died as nearly unbearable hunger overrode the companion’s minds. Delicious spicy and smoky sweet flavours burst on Ahsoka’s tongue in explosions as one after the other, strips of meat vanished from the box. She ate a small amount in the early morning, but it felt like days since she last ate. Maul quickly finished his protein shake and quickly fished through the bag for another.

“How much food do you have left?” Ahsoka mumbled and hastily swallowed the meat in her mouth.

“I only have three shakes left” Maul said and took one of the three out. “I did not expect us to be here so long.”

“Me too” Ahsoka said and gazed into the fire. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Maul tear the top off his second shake. “Do you think we’ve learned all that we can about this thing in our heads?” she asked quickly. The talk of weapons was over, but she couldn’t help but feel she would need to be armed before this conversation ends.

Maul hand froze half-way to his mouth, his finger flexing slightly. “I no longer have any interest in looking further into it” he muttered and took a long sip.

“But what if there is a something there that Sidious…Or anyone could use against us. What if there is a problem?”

“As far as I am concerned there is already a greater problem with this fucking thing” Maul swore and rolled his head up to meet his gaze. “I know you did not come here to talk about Sidious.”

“If you knew that then why did you agree to meet?” Ahsoka asked firmly but a small tension grew in her stomach. _This had to happen eventually._

“Because I wanted to see what you would do” Maul growled softly, and that dangerous fire was burning in his eyes again.

“You were testing- “Ahsoka breathed deeply and splayed her hands out. _If he was testing me then he is certainly testing me now._ It grated against her pride that he would do so, but then she was not innocent of that crime either. A tense silence grew over the fire and Ahsoka’s eyes never left Maul’s for a second. The dark bond between them twitched and she felt a wave of brooding anger ebbing between his mind into hers. _What do I tell him?_ She thought. All she could think of in that moment was his face twisted in pain in the fires of Lotho minor and almost exactly mirrored during their fight under the lightning. Right now, it was dangerously still and calculating. “Here we are then Maul. What did you think?”

“What did I think…?” Maul whispered softly and idly rubbed his thumb over his other hand. “There are so many instances where I can make an educated guess on what you would do, how you would react, etcetera, etcetera…And other times I cannot.”

“But you seem to think I would do something” Ahsoka with a cold calmness to her voice. “There is absolutely nothing I could do. What did you expect? Do you think I would use this knowledge I have of _your_ suffering against you?!”

“ _That_ is precisely my point!” Maul leaned in and snarled. “What is stopping you from doing so?”

“There is nothing to ‘stop’, I would never use someone’s pain against them! I could never do that.”

“You say that now, in this moment. But what of the future, what if there comes a time that you feel the need to use this! Any being who wishes domination would use any and all means in their possession.”

“I’m trying to find a scenario where that future exists, Maul!” Ahsoka snapped. “I don’t want you to think I would use this against you. I want to help you...”

“What…” Maul shook his head, his horns glinting in the fire’s light. “I do not need help!”

“Okay, but just listen to me for a second” the half Jedi sighed and ran a hand down her face. “This is something I have to talk about. I can’t get what I saw out of my head, I can’t get what happened to you out of my head.”

“Oh, that must be such a hardship for you!”

“Look. I know but if I could just help you- “

Maul stood suddenly and threw his half-eaten shake onto the rocky ground, and Ahsoka froze midsentence. “You are not listening!” he roared, and his hands trembled by his sides. “I do not want help! I never asked for it not once! And you- “he pointed a long finger at her. “Are forcing me to remember what happened on Lotho Minor and what happened in the pools. I _lived_ through that miserable existence for ten whole years the last thing I want is to be _reminded_ of it! Do you think it helps?! Did I come to you like a pathetic creature desperate for what?!” he spluttered, his voice rising higher. “Comfort? As if I know what that is. Reassurance? Compassion?! No! I do not know what you are attempting to do- “

“I am trying to help a friend!” Ahsoka suddenly shouted. Maul’s jaw dropped and a chilling silence pressed down on the two of them like a great weight. His yellow gaze burned into her like a hot knife and Ahsoka looked to the side but was surprised to find herself standing also. “That’s what I’m trying to do Maul…”

“ _Friend_?” Maul hoarsely whispered; his eyes blown wide. He suddenly shook his head as if a small gnat were biting his ears. Ahsoka bit her lip and looked away as the dark bond between them twitched with a wave of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I…” Ahsoka began and paused. Maul stared at her like she would float away if he even glanced to the side even once. _It feels as if I only have this one chance to explain,_ she thought and flared her fingers. _Oh, why is it never easy with you?_

“You have said to me, on many occasions that we are not unalike” the half Jedi continued cautiously as if trying to gentle an angry and wounded animal. “I have come to realise there is...merit to that. It _is_ hard for me to admit that Maul. I am in all but name a Jedi and you a Sith. But before there was separate Jedi and Sith orders, Force users were a singular group” she pressed her fist into her hand to drive home exactly what she said. “And it’s true, those times are nearly forgotten. But what is remembered is that those Force users were for the most part _peaceful_ and unstoppable.” Maul opened his mouth to say something but Ahsoka quickly raised her hand before he could say anything. “Please let me finish.” The half Sith stopped and his feverish eyes blinked slowly in hesitant acceptance. “I am aware that we could recreate this through being just partners, but it will not be as powerful. You see, if we are friends, because we both know we aren’t. But if we are…We will not have to look over our own shoulders constantly to see if either of us are going to hurt the other. I also know we agreed not too but this” she gestured quickly between the two of them. “This constant arguing, this constant suspicion, this walking on thin ice around each other. It gets us nowhere!” she breathed deeply, and very slowly she took a step around the fire towards Maul. His jaw set itself in a tight sneer, but Ahsoka refused to let it dishearten her. _Finish what you started._

“With my friends, with Rex, with Anakin, with so many others…We can talk to each other and _trust_ each other. Because to betray your friend is so much harder to do than to a partner. But it did happen to me once! You saw in Hardcase’ memories, you remember? The soldier on Mandalore?” Maul frowned and then nodded slowly. “I was evicted from the Jedi order because one of my _friends_ betrayed me. She…She used me for her own gain, and it hurt, it hurt so much because I trusted her. And because of that I am _loyal_ to my friends that I know I can trust. I could never hurt them, betray them, go against them. I could never.” Ahsoka paused again and took another step forwards and Maul eyed her warily. But there was an odd sheen to his eyes as they twitched between Ahsoka and the fire. A sheen that spoke of a catacomb of memories. Where each clawed at their sarcophagus vehemently even as he tried desperately for them to stay buried. _Keep going._ And so, she did, and it was almost as if her mouth was a puppet’s, and some benevolent hand was guiding her words.

“I should have considered your feelings when bring up what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t. It is not my place to do that. But I can be impulsive…Demanding at times.”

“You are just discovering that now?” Maul said softly.

Ahsoka half-heartedly laughed with a crooked smile and took another step forward until she was just a meter away. “I need reminding sometimes.” A second silence fell over the pair’s ramshackle camp, but where there was once a great tension baring down on the two, now there was an open silence. Each other waiting for the other’s move. Ahsoka breathed deeply and met his eyes for a moment longer before turning to stand shoulder to shoulder and gazed into the fire pit with the half Sith. Maul sighed and the feverish look in his eyes glinted with the flames. The sneer painted on his face remained as if chiselled into granite, but because of the tilt of his head, the glossiness in his eyes. Because of the strange emotions Ahsoka could feel from him through the bond. She had a feeling he was forcing that sneer to stay there.

“Sometimes I hate fires” Maul said slowly and paused as if to change the words even as they left his lips. “It reminds me of that time…” he suddenly snorted and rolled his head towards Ahsoka. “You give bloody long speeches. You should have been a fucking senator.”

“Oh, I’m not brave enough for politics” Ahsoka chuffed and crossed her arms. But she heard what he said, and she saw it for what it was. A chance. She may have inadvertently been given the smallest fragment of hope. _This could be working…_

“But you are brave” Maul said. Surprised, Ahsoka turned her head towards the half Sith, and the hope in her chest grew a fraction larger. “You are the only person I know who has argued with me and taunted me like I am some Padawan. You know who I am and that takes bravery to do what you do. To be perfectly honest I do not like it” he gave her a pointed look. “But it allows me to understand you in some of the vaguest ways. I do not understand _friendship_ , I do not understand why you seek it with me!”

“I don’t really know either, except that it makes sense. And fuck, I am just being honest with myself also.”

Suddenly Maul turned to her fully and the sheen to his eyes had vanished in return for his unrelenting determination and anger. “You must not ever bring up what happened again. This is not up for debate, for I will never wish to talk about it!”

“Yes” Ahsoka promised and also turned to the half Sith. _But I will listen if you wish to talk._

“You will not speak of what happened to anyone!”

“I promise I won’t” Ahsoka said. She was not bound to this promise when she told Yoda… 

Maul sighed again and wearily bowed his head towards the rocky floor. “Good. Do not betray this trust. I cannot…” Whatever he was about to say he left unsaid but Ahsoka felt something tingle in her mind from the bond. Sadness. Though such a feeling never revealed itself on his handsome face.

“I won’t betray you” she whispered.

Maul remained silent for a moment and then nodded. “I am tired Ahsoka. I need rest.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“Do or do not it does not bother me” he said and lowered himself back onto a large root by the fire. “But I wish to spar again when I wake.”

“Hm” Ahsoka smiled and settled herself down next to him. They sat barely a meter apart from one and another, but the half Jedi was vividly aware of how close they really were. _Nearly a month ago I would be screaming at myself to lock him up. I even considered killing him for a time…I’m glad I didn’t. But please don’t make me regret it Maul._ But she did not say these things. Instead Ahsoka looked ahead and into the flames with a new feeling of relief easing the tension in her shoulders.

“I would like that” she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM FRIENDSHIP.   
> Not gonna lie I think I'm doing the slowburn well when its chapter 12 and the two have CONSIDERED being friends. But you all know what this means? Emotional pining, becoming closer, physically closer. The ball is really rolling now but that also means plot!  
> I hope the ending with Ahsoka's little speech wasn't long winded? let me know if it was, I do aim to improve my writing and the last thing I want is to bore people. Thank you for reading!
> 
> P.S. Thank you for all your lovely comments and kudos, you all are the best!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is guys woohoo! Thank you for all your lovely comments and kudos I really appreciate them! I'm pretty happy with this chapter but also sad. Because its an ending in some sense...
> 
> I hope to have the next chapter out soon, things are really happening in the galaxy, however, I have so much Uni work to do so I can't give you all a precise time as much as I wish :(

The embers of an old fire crackled in the dawn of a new morning. Both Ahsoka and Maul sat wearily around it, their tired eyes rested on the hot cinders as Maul adjusted mechanisms within his legs and Ahsoka cleaned hers and Maul’s saber. The half Jedi sighed and delicately flicked out packed in dirt from the large saber staff with an oiled rag. It had been three standard rotations on Dagobah since she approached Maul, but this was the first sunrise she witnessed since joining him. _These nights are too long and days too short. I miss the sun, a real sun anyway._ Her eyes flickered up to the half Sith seated before her with his left leg propped up and fine delicate tools tinkering away within his plated knee cap. _I wonder if he is missing the sun too._

“I did not ask you to clean that” Maul said lowly.

Ahsoka frowned and hefted the staff in hand. “I was cleaning mine and you are busy fixing your legs. Besides, I did throw it in the mud in our last fight.”

“Yes, a rather petty move considering the nature of our fights” Maul growled darkly, his lips pulling up into a sneer as he glowered at his leg. 

Ahsoka felt her face warm and glanced down at her own legs as she continued cleaning. _Yes, our…fights,_ she thought. _I have never sparred with someone where combat felt more like an art form than a struggle._ Ahsoka’s quickly shook her head. _It’s still combat. I guess it doesn’t really pay to think about it too much._

Maul suddenly uttered a dark curse across the fire and Ahsoka’s eyes snapped up as he dropped the tools by his side and rubbed between his eyes angrily. “Ah…” Ahsoka began. “What’s the problem?”

“The ‘problem’” Maul snarled. “Is that some fucking joint and nerve cable are disconnected!”

Ahsoka frowned and her eyes tried to focus on his leg in the dim light. “When did that happen?”

“Oh, I do not know, maybe when you slammed that foot of yours into the knee joint?!”

“Hey, we were sparring. There is going to be some damage eventually. My back is bruised from where drop kicked me” Ahsoka grumbled and rubbed the nape of her neck.

“Yes, but you do not need to spend hours searching for one pitiful cable to re-wire!” Maul snarked and shot her a dark look.

 _An apology would be nice though._ “True…” she sighed instead and set down the saber staff. “Is there an engineering droid on the ship?”

“What do you think?!”

“Okay, okay, calm down” Ahsoka frowned at the half Sith. A memory flashed before Ahsoka’s eyes of Anakin adjusting the internal mechanisms of his cybernetic arm. _‘Don’t get your limbs sliced off Snips. Cyber arms are a pain in the arse to fix after every fight’_ he had said. As a Padawan she watched his maintenance religiously, curious and eager to learn more of any engineering she could get her hands on. Ahsoka fidgeted in her spot and her eyes drifted to the tools Maul had dropped by his side. _Maybe…_ The half Sith muttered something in Dathomirian under his breath and peered into his opened knee angrily. _Well here’s hoping this improves his mood._ “I know a fair bit about engineering. I could help if you want?” Ahsoka said quietly.

“I do not want help.”

 _Clearly not._ “Alright, fine by me. But don’t complain when I leave you in the dust because of your limping” she told him and picked up the saber staff once more.

Maul sneered at her in response and the dark bond in her mind twitched with a wave of his frustration. “Maybe I should cut off one of those legs. We would be equals then!”

“That’s not very friendly of you” Ahsoka smirked and flicked out another sliver of grime from the saber’s openings. “I won’t have any dignity hopping around the undergrowth you know.”

“Cripples have plenty dignity. You have enough pride to compensate.”

Ahsoka laughed under her breath with a shake of her head. “A Jedi cannot have pride” she intoned gravely. “It’s a trait that leads to the dark side.”

“Well done” Maul grumbled. “You have plenty of other un-Jedi like traits. I am happy to divulge them!”

“Good thing I’m not a true Jedi then” Ahsoka jostled the saber staff in his direction. Maul cursed again and snatched up his tools once more in his search for the elusive leg problem. For a handful of long moments, the camp was silent and Ahsoka frequently glanced at Maul under her eye lashes to watch his face grow darker and darker by the second. The long and thin tool tilted in his hands and suddenly a shower of spark erupted from his knee opening like a volcano. _Well that’s not good-_

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” he roared and slapped the sparks away with his long red hands. “Fine!” he glowered at Ahsoka. “Have a look if you wish. But if you damage my leg any further you are paying for the repairs!”

 _You could say please,_ she thought with a self-satisfied nod of her head and casually rose to her feet. “I don’t have any money on hand but in the unlikely case I _do_ damage it feel free to yell at me some more.”

Maul glowered in response and folded his arms tersely across his chest. Sighing, Ahsoka walked around the dying fire until she was by his propped-up leg and sat on the uncomfortable ground. Leaning over the opening of his leg, Ahsoka peered into the dense network of cables bundled together like muscles, cooling ports connected to vents on the side of the leg shell. And thin fibre like wires woven down each support and grouping of durasteel technology. Frowning, Ahsoka glanced around the brief view she had and bit her lip as she could not see any obvious fault. _This is very different from Anakin’s work. Better not tell him that…_ “What design are these?” she asked instead.

“Mandalorian” Maul told her quickly. “Specifically, Death Watch. That better not be a problem.” 

“Hm…” Ahsoka hummed and her eyes flicked up and down around the opened joint. “The issue may actually be around the knee network but not in it right here. It’s probably not immediately affecting the other mechanics. Do you have another opening above the knee?”

“Yes, here” Maul tapped an area beneath his pants that would have been the middle thigh on an organic leg. “I could not open it by myself. It requires two people or one engineering droid.”

“Well good thing I am here” Ahsoka sighed and scratched her face. “May I look at it?” 

Maul grunted and without hesitating he hiked the edge of his pants well above the middle thigh area. He sighed and his hand dropped very close to where Ahsoka’s own hand was placed, the red and black patterns drawing her eyes to it immediately. She quickly felt her face warm at the sudden exposure and was suddenly grateful for the dim morning light. _It’s just a leg and a cyber leg at that!_ But she couldn’t help but be aware at how close they were to each other, that she would barely have to reach her hand out to touch his face.

“This would be easier if we were not occupying a swamp” Maul muttered as if to alleviate the tension.

“Yeah, it would definitely be more ideal” she quickly agreed and nodded to the outline of his leg. “Where are the access ports?”

“There are four, here and here” Maul tapped even vaguer outlines of small rectangles on either end of a plate making up a small section of the thigh area. The ports were nearly seamless against the rest of the durasteel, forcing Ahsoka to squint hard to make them out. “We must activate them at the same time.”

“Okay” Ahsoka lifted her hands and then froze. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

“Yes, yes I have already said it was fine!”

“Alright it’s just normally when we are this close it’s because I am about to hit you!” Ahsoka exclaimed and as soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted them. Maul’s face twisted in a peculiar look and she couldn’t stop a cringe from hunching her shoulders over _._

“That is an unusual thing to say” he said quietly.

Ahsoka’s face burned hotter than the fire and she pointedly looked anywhere but his face. “I just…Come on let’s start this” she muttered and forcefully placed her hands on the lower part of his thigh, her thumbs poised above the ports while her fingers gripped beneath his leg. Maul’s leg jolted from the sudden contact, but he quickly settled himself as if he expected it all along.

“Why are you uncomfortable?” Maul asked and placed his hands over his thigh, his thumbs resting on the on the last two ports.

“I’m not!”

“Well this bond in our heads tells me otherwise” he snipped. “Are you forgetting when I carried you out of that miserable prison on Belderone?”

Ahsoka’s breath whistled out her nose and it took every molecule in her body not to take her hands off him. “I am well aware of _that_!” she growled under her breath. _At least he is not talking about our fight…_ The memory of Maul carrying her in his arms was replaced with the image of Maul’s face cupped in her hands and her cheeks burned even more. But that memory felt particularly taboo for either of them to mention. The half Sith snickered in response before adjusting his grip on his own leg.

“Fine. On three.”

“On exactly three or after three?”

“ _On_ three!” he growled. “One, two, _three_.”

Ahsoka and Maul both pressed their thumbs down firmly on the ports attached to Maul’s leg plate. Immediately, the outline of the plate glowed blue with a hiss as a line appeared down the middle and the two sides split apart and outwards like doors. Ahsoka blinked and removed her hands as she peered into the new opening. Her eyes studied every piece of machinery as if to commit it to memory, but a cold feeling of dismay washed over her as it looked no different from the network making up the knee joint. “Okay this gives me more room to work with” she said and tapped her chin. _There does appear to be some torsion in the potentiometer and rotary encoder…_

“Could you pass me that tool please?” she indicated to the long thin piece of steel with a hooked end that Maul was using before. Maul nodded and delicately placed the instrument in her palm, his tattooed fingers brushing the skin gently. A strange feeling in Ahsoka’s stomach twisted itself up but she gave him an appreciative nod instead. “You won’t feel this will you?” she asked quietly as she brushed the edge of the tool over once of the tight metal cables.

“No. I’ve been told there is operations available to restore _some_ feeling in my upper legs, but not all of it” he said. His eyes trained on Ahsoka’s hands like a hawk as she gently pressed the hook underneath the cable but otherwise said nothing more.

“Do you want to get that operation?” she asked quietly as she surgically disconnected a cable to give her more access.

“…I do not know.”

“Why not? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It is fine if you ask Ahsoka” Maul began. “No one else has. Considering we are both unofficial enemies of the empire I doubt there is much opportunity for the procedure. But truthfully, I do not know what benefit I would get from having it. It just opens up a greater target for enemies that I do not want. And if it is not my whole legs…Then what is the point.”

Ahsoka was silent for a long moment as she explored the coupling between the potentiometer and rotary coder, but half of her brain processed what he said. Another memory joined her mind. One of Maul at the bottom of that pit in Lotho Minor and her heart suddenly dropped to her stomach. _I wish I could make that go away…_ “There is torsion in the potentiometer here. Can you see it?” she asked instead. Maul leaned forward slightly more and the horn on the side of his head grazed the top of her montral. The bunch in her stomach twisted more and goosebumps prickled her long arms. _He is warm,_ she found herself thinking and her eyes blew a fraction wider. She could feel warmth radiating off him like a sun even without touching. The twist in her stomach fluttered slightly at the realisation and grew as she breathed and briefly smelled his scent. The one that still lingered on the cloak across her shoulders. He did not smell of the iron she once caught from his skin. He smelled of fire, of the trees and leaves from the swamps around the two. _Oh. He smells nice…_ Her thoughts trailed off as her hand tingled with a want to move and touch his face again. The bunch within her stomach fluttered even more, and it took some strength not to lean away and not to lean closer.

“I see it” he said quietly and leaned back. Ahsoka’s face lifted as he drifted away, and her eyes met his golden ones that burned in the dark. Maul paused as their eyes met but his face softened under her gaze, his pupils blowing wide. Ahsoka’s breath hitched as they travelled her face in silence as if seeing her for the first time. She wondered if he saw the heat staining her face as they traced over her markings. _He looks…Shocked?_ She could not look away and could not ignore his sudden attention but even more so was the feelings that washed through the bond that they both shared. For the life of her, Ahsoka could not begin to understand them or how jumbled and twisted they were. _What do you see?_ She thought as she looked into those eyes and her stomach fluttered almost violently. Looking away took effort and she forced herself to focus on his leg before her. As she did so, the twisted feelings from Maul faded away slightly and he sighed like he just shrugged off a planet from his shoulders.

“Would it make you happy?” Ahsoka asked gently and picked up a small wrench, gripping the tool tightly. _What was that?_ She thought. Her hands trembled as they fitted the wrench against the troublesome joint. Maul’s eyes had not left her face, but the air was charged with the look the two shared.

“…I do not know” Maul replied, his voice barely above a whisper. “I do not even understand what happiness is.”

“Well…” Ahsoka gently twisted a rivet and the potentiometer slackened in its place. “Maybe it could. And maybe that would be worth it.”

Maul laughed, his deep voice thrumming through the air and a small smile spread across Ahsoka’s face. “I will take your word for it Lady Tano.”

 _Lady Tano doesn’t feel like a title anymore,_ Ahsoka thought as she eased away the last of the torsion between the potentiometer and rotary coder. _But I don’t understand what it does feel like now._ “There, that should fix it I think” she said and reconnected all cables and wires she removed for access.

Maul nodded and brushed his hand over the separated plates over his leg. Said plates on his thigh and knee quickly resealed themselves with a hiss and everything was back as it was. The half Sith raised his leg and flexed the knee joint cautiously but it moved smoothly as if brand new. “Good” he said and placed a booted foot on the ground while pulling down his pant leg again. “You have my thanks.”

“Don’t mention it” Ahsoka said and scooted herself away from their close proximity until she sat by his side. The charge was gone, the mood less heavy, less sharp. But why did she almost miss it? “Have you noticed something when we fight?”

“Besides your cheap taunts?”

“Yours are just as cheap thank you very much” Ahsoka sniffed. “But no. Have you noticed that when we fight…It’s as if we can read each other’s moves.”

“Yes, I have noticed that. I take it you are relating this phenomenon to our bond?”

 _Our bond…_ Ahsoka never voiced aloud that it was a possession shared between the two. It made the feeling in her gut even more perplexing. “Yeah. I mean we have only fought a handful of times, but this feels different. And it almost feels new.”

“The first and second of our fights did not share this trait. It may be due to the nature of them. I am curious to when we engage in combat with others. It may prove far more useful than anticipated.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, when do you think we should leave Dagobah?”

“Soon” Maul said gravely. “I do not wish to search for meaning in this bond any longer. And we need information on what is happening within the Outer Rim at the very least. But I thought that toad of a master was a reason you want to stay.”

“He is- no he was. But he has made it clear to me that he doesn’t want any part of this fight. And I don’t intend on waiting around to convince him…Even if I don’t see him again.”

“Is your connection with him so strong that you would in any other circumstance?”

“I don’t know, I thought it was. But so many things have changed. I’ve changed and even though Yoda has lived for near 900 years he seems to have changed too. We are not given that choice to stand by as everything goes to shit and that means I must leave…” Ahsoka felt a wave of sadness wash over her and her face pulled down in a frown, the low flames reflected in her eyes. “But why do you ask, I thought you hated him?”

“I do not want to leave here if any regrets will affect you in the future. It is not productive and honestly I do not want to deal with it” the half Sith said candidly.

“That’s harsh!” Ahsoka snapped at him, the feeling in her stomach disappearing instantly.

“You would have the same feelings if I were the one with regrets. I do not place any merit on Jedi teachings but there is one thing that remains true. Letting go is the only way to accomplish anything. And before you twist my own words against me!” Maul held up his hand as Ahsoka opened her mouth angrily. “I am aware that this is a trait of mine but one I will not discuss. We must focus on the task at hand. Can you agree on that?”

“I…” Ahsoka took a deep breath and pushed aside the anger his words evoked. “Of course, I agree.”

“Good. And I do not hate that cretin personally but all that he stood for.”

 _As if that makes a difference,_ Ahsoka thought but did not say. “You don’t have to be so brutally honest.”

“That was not brutal. I can be brutal if you want.”

Ahsoka sighed and rolled her eyes. “Though to be fair, I would appreciate a nice bed and a hot shower one day soon.”

“You need one.”

Ahsoka spun and punched Maul in the shoulder angrily but it only made him laugh again. “Touchy, touchy” he tutted and smiled at the fire. “But yes, some creature comforts would be much appreciated.”

“You did not have your fill on Mandalore?”

“Oh, the Mandalorians know how to live in almost fin de siècle comfort. Being Mand’alor does have its rewards. Considering that” Maul gave her a curious look. “You are technically the new Mand’alor.”

“What?!” Ahsoka gaped at Maul as if he told her she had turned bright green. “No, I am not!”

“You defeated me in singular combat. That is the only law dictating the new ruler which you met. You have my respect from one Mand’alor to another.”

“No, no, no” Ahsoka scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. _Me, the Mand’alor? How ridiculous._ “Mandalore belongs to Bo-Katan now. That was our agreement.”

“All too convenient for her” Maul folded his arms tersely and leaned back against a root with a sneer. “She is one of the largest hypocrites I have ever met. You do realise she _wanted_ my help to evict her sister from power and I did just that but then she runs off crying to the Jedi begging for help!”

“Just as well she did. I do know you are glossing over a lot of facts during your time with Death Watch, Maul. But what do you think would happen if I did not capture you? The planet was in turmoil, it was an opportunity for more than just me to face you” Ahsoka told him. The name _Sidious_ was left unsaid in the air, but Maul caught it none of the less.

“Hence my plan to leave during that battle. I know full well Sidious would have returned once he had the opportunity” Maul growled, and brazen hatred oozed off of him and through the bond like a dark miasma. With that Maul stood and wearily rolled his shoulders. “I am going for a walk. Do not join me.” With that Maul stalked off from the arena they made camp and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Ahsoka sighed and all at once her fatigue dropped like a rock between her shoulders. _Off he goes again. I hope I don’t have to track him down like last time…_ She knew Sidious was a dangerous topic to discuss outside of their goal to end him. It was as if even whispering his name breathed him into life before them. _To think feeble old Palpatine was a Sith lord the entire time. To think he was capable of such cruelty and he-_ Ahsoka cut off her thoughts and rubbed the bridge of her nose. The sabers across the fire where she once sat glinted in the low light, catching her eyes, distracting her from her dark thoughts. Stretching out her hand, Ahsoka summoned them both, catching her own saber in her right hand and Maul’s saber staff in her left. _These couldn’t be more different,_ she thought, weighing them both. _But it works…_ She did not know if she was thinking about the sabers or her and Maul.

“Closer you two have become” an old rusty voice said. Ahsoka gasped and rocketed to her feet instantly, the two sabers falling to the ground with a dull thud. Standing solemnly behind her, master Yoda regarded her with huge brown eyes that seemed to peer into her soul.

 _I did not sense him!_ Ahsoka gaped at Yoda and a pool of dread set in her stomach. _How long was he there?!_

“Master!” Ahsoka said shakily. “I did not sense your presence.”

“No” Yoda shook his head and paced towards her. “You did not” he stopped directly before her and craned his wizened head up at her. “Lie to you, I will not. Watching I have been. Since your last spar with Maul.”

Ahsoka swallowed and straightened her back stiffly. “Why?” she growled with barely contained anger.

“Why you ask?” Yoda frowned. “Forget you do. Forget who that man is.”

Suddenly the bond in her mind twitched and two golden eyes appeared within her mind. _“You are more than angry. What is happening?”_ Maul’s voice said calmly within her.

 _“It’s Yoda. Now give me a moment!”_ she snapped at the half Sith. Anger burned in the bond from Maul, but she knew it was not quite directed at her and with that the eyes vanished. _He_ _is going to come back. Fine, let him hear what I have to say also!_

“I do not forget master” Ahsoka quickly responded, her voice shaking. “I know him better than you. Better than the Jedi council!”

“Better than Obi-wan, hm?” Yoda said, his voice hard. “Master Obi-wan’s pain, endured at his hands. Lost is that knowledge to you?”

“I will say again. I forget nothing master and I do not forget my lessons learned at the Jedi temple. Hatred and pain have its beginning and end, and that beginning started with master Obi-wan.”

“No” Yoda shook his head. “Quigon it started with. Avoid the truth, you do.”

“No, I do not!” Ahsoka hissed, anger tainting her voice. “Maul was under the orders and threat of Darth Sidious” Ahsoka said darkly, her eyes blazing. “He had _no_ choice in his actions less he be punished or worse killed from his inaction. He was raised by that Sith lord to resent the Jedi! And the Jedi have done no less to the Sith.”

“That may be so, Ahsoka” Yoda replied quickly. “Excuse his actions that does not. Darkness surrounds that man. Matter it does not the pain he went through- “

“Of course, it matters!” Ahsoka shouted. “How can you say that?! How can you say that when that pain was a direct result from Jedi!”

“Apprentice to Sidious he was Ahsoka” Yoda voice remained calm, but his eyes burned even more. “Near twenty years. Uncertainty there is not that _his_ influence has made Maul who he is. Skywalker I can see within you _Padawan_! Sidious I can see within him!”

“ _We_ are not our masters!” Ahsoka seethed, her hands now fists trembling by her sides. “Was Anakin anything like Obi-wan?! No! Our choices, our decisions make us who we are!”

“Why then, tell me?” the old master said lowly, his head shaking slowly side to side. “Chosen you have to be his friend. Tell me why.”

“Because” Ahsoka said. “For better or worse I am _bound_ to Maul, not by just this thing in our heads but by the galaxies need for Sidious’ end. We are bound and I need stability, master!” Ahsoka gestured violently to the swamp around her. “We came here to figure out what was happening, and we haven’t really, we have no answers. But I found you here instead! I thought I reclaimed some of that stability I once had as a Padawan but then you tell me you are content to stay here and do _nothing_?! I don’t have that luxury and neither does Maul. So yes, I wish to be his friend. I have nothing else, absolutely nothing. Not even my own sabers!”

Yoda suddenly stepped closer and clasped his gnarled hand over Ahsoka’s fist, his brown eyes staring into her imploringly. “…Upsetting this is for you. It must be Ahsoka. You must see” He said softly. Ahsoka said nothing but she could feel her heart burn with so much rage and confusion. Yoda sighed at her silence, his face turning away towards the dying fire cast around the light of a breaking dawn. He released her hand and carefully reached down to pick up Maul’s saber staff that lay on the swamp floor. A wave of hatred and anger shot through the dark thing in her mind like blaster fire so much so that Ahsoka cringed with the pressure. _So, he is watching then…_ “Bound you are. Deny that I cannot. But risks there are, for fraternizing with one of the dark side.”

“What would you have me do?” Ahsoka stepped towards Yoda. “What would you have anyone do in this position?”

“From your duty and your personal feelings, you must separate yourself” Yoda said gravely, the saber staff held across in both hands. “That is the way of the Jedi, young Ahsoka.”

 _How easy it is for you to say. How simple it must look to you!_ “That is not all that was taught. We were taught to be kind, to be compassionate” Ahsoka sighed and forced her hands to relax from their fists. _He will not recognise my anger; he must know through what I say._ “I have made my choice and I _will_ stand by it, master” Ahsoka began and a wave of calmness ebbed away at the anger burning in her heart. “I cannot make you understand my decision. But I am following the will of the Force wherever it takes me.”

Yoda look to the side, his eyes drifting to a world that seems lightyears away and to thoughts she could not see. “Understand I do, more than most that the Force will flow as the tide sees fit. Fear I do that it will drag you into its depths. Fear as I once feared for Skywalker…”

Ahsoka’s heartbeat in her chest, her breath stifling her lungs. The grief that was oh so close now consumed her like the predator consumes the prey. “Did you know?” she whispered. The predator’s teeth grazed her throat making her choke. “Did you know he would…fall.”

“Signs there were Ahsoka. Signs of a darkness taking his heart. I saw but…Believe I could not. The chosen one he is. To be corrupted I could not believe possible” Yoda’s face turned grim and he near glared at the saber staff in his hands. His old hands twisted the staff as if he wished to break it but then sighed and let it roll from his hands. The long heavy weapon tumbled and thudded against the roots almost quietly before lying still next to Ahsoka’s feet. The cold teeth of grief bit into her heart as she stared at it. “The hand of Sidious shaped Maul. The hand of Sidious ensnared Skywalker. I would not see that happen to you. Allow it, I will not.”

“He is not him, master” Ahsoka whispered. Sniffing, Ahsoka rolled her head to the thin rays of sun filtering through the leaves, wishing the burning she felt in her eyes was from the light. “I don’t see Sidious in him. Maybe once he was there. But not…” she angrily scrubbed her face as the burning turned into hot tears. “I just know master. He hates Sidious too much, knows him too well to ever become him. Maybe that’s just my ignorance talking” she cast her hands aside and then let them fall against her hips despairingly. “But I can promise you that I never will turn. I owe you that much. I owe Anakin that much.”

Yoda said nothing and turned back towards the tree line where he emerged. “Know I do, that you will leave. Before you go, see me. Escort you two I will to your ship.” He meandered his way over to the wooded edge of the arena, but before he left, he turned back just once. “To your promise you must commit yourself. Trust you, I do young Ahsoka. Truly” his large brown eyes stared into hers for a moment longer and then he turned into the trees again. Swallowing noisily, Ahsoka rubbed her eyes until the tears were gone and the skin around them was bruised.

“Shit!” she hissed. _Why did he have to? I don’t understand, everything was going well, why did he-_

“Lady Tano” a deep voice said behind her.

Ahsoka’s hands stilled themselves immediately and she lowered them slowly to her side. She did not want to see him. Not right now. “Can you give me a minute please” she whispered.

“What was said concerned me too.”

Ahsoka sniffed again and stared off into the dense shadows beneath the trees. For once the shadow looked welcoming. “I know…”

Maul was gratefully silent as the half Jedi walked away from him and the fire. She was glad to not hear his footsteps follow her. _What the fuck am I supposed to do?! And why was he watching it doesn’t make sense-_ A large, gloved hand grabbed her by the forearm, yanking her away from the trees assertively. “Hey!” Ahsoka exclaimed as she spun around. Maul stood over her, his face unnervingly expressionless as he regarded her bruised eyes and angry snarl. “Let go of me!” she yelled.

“This is exactly why I do not want you to have second thoughts” Maul said.

“Well good news, I don’t!” Ahsoka snapped and ripped her arm away from him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Maul gestured back to the fire. The flames were nearly gone, all that was left was bright yellow and red cinders glowing in the dark. “I understand being angry. Being furious. Are you angry at the old toad?”

“It’s _Yoda_ and- “Ahsoka ran a hand over her face as she cursed under her breath. “Of course, I’m mad. He was watching us for days and accused me of being irresponsible like I’m some _youngling_!”

“Why is he accusing you of such?” Maul said and sat by the dying fire. A small pile of dried wood was clustered together, more sticks than solid branches in truth. Ahsoka scowled as he tossed two long pieces on and sat back with that infuriatingly blank face. Muttering, she looked back once at the trees behind her, but already the angry fire was losing its heat. The grief remained forever within. Sighing, Ahsoka lowered herself to a root across from the half Sith, where their sabers lay.

“Because in his lifetime there was _never_ a friendship between a Jedi and a Sith” Ahsoka said.

“Hm” Maul hummed and prodded the fire with a long stick. “Is he content to ignore that _I_ was the first Sith to reveal himself for a thousand years? I do not believe he is or should be claiming any proposed knowledge on that. Also, if he is _content_ to sit here in this swamp with his useless Jedi ways then he should have no input on how you choose to conduct yourself.”

“You don’t have to explain that to me…” Ahsoka snipped and cupped her jaw with her hand. “He compared me to…”

“Go on.”

“He compared me to the worst qualities in Anakin. To my master.”

“And me to mine though he lacked anything resembling a quality” Maul said. “You see now? You are no longer under his power, yet he treats you as if you are. He _will_ have to get used to it. I could kill him if you desire it” he finished a little too enthusiastically.

“ _No_!” Ahsoka growled, her fingers digging into the root beneath her. “And he never had _any_ power over me!”

“Ah yes, that why the titles _master_ and _padawan_ exist” Maul nodded and gave her a level look.

“Shut up” she glared and bunched the cloak around her body.

Maul snorted and returned to poking the fire at his feet. _I still don’t understand why he was here. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed here so long. I should’ve convinced Maul to come back to the heart tree with me…Oh what does it matter?_ From the corner of her eyes, she watched as Maul began to mess around with the communicator on his bracer. _Yoda should trust me more not to fall to the dark side. Is he worried that Maul would kill me? Even if he wanted to, he would have to fight me, and I doubt he would win…And Anakin…He saw how troubled he was and did nothing?! Not even Obi-wan! I shouldn’t have been so harsh to him before, maybe if I talked to him properly…_

A crackle interrupted Ahsoka’s thoughts and the half Jedi’s head immediately snapped up to Maul who frowned over his communicator. “That better not be traceable” she muttered.

“I am not a fool!” Maul grumbled quickly. “Now be quiet.”

Ahsoka opened her mouth to spit some insult when the harsh crackle changed into garbled words. “…Imperial’s on the ground…four-star destroyers…back up…Partisan’s…” with that the words fell quiet and the harsh crackle returned.

“What was that?!” Ahsoka quickly rose to her feet.

Maul was frowning at his bracer and quickly typing in codes, but the static only grew louder. “I intercepted a frequency” he quickly said.

“Well can you get it back?!”

“I am trying!”

“Fuck!” Ahsoka swore and ran around the fire. She quickly yanked Maul’s forearm and bracer towards her with a curse from the half Sith.

“What are you doing?!”

“I know military frequencies better than you” she snapped and pressed the communicator’s buttons quickly.

“That may not have been the military!”

“Well it certainly wasn’t a moisture farmer!” Ahsoka growled. The thin line across the display screen scrambled with each code Ahsoka plugged in but still the voices did not return. _Come on, come on!_ Suddenly the crackle stopped, and the thin line turned green, waving slightly as the voices suddenly boomed out of the communicator.

“Commune in sector 26. All factions meet in one standard hour from now. Over and out.”

Immediately Ahsoka pressed two receiver buttons at once and the display turned red as a long line of coordinates appeared across the screen. “We have it!” Ahsoka breathed. “We have the coordinates!”

“These may be coordinates for the Empire!” Maul snarled and pulled his arm away from her.

“No, no, that’s definitely not! They said Partisan’s, that isn’t a military code! And they described the soldiers on the ground and what star ships they used. Maul- “Ahsoka gestured excitedly around her. “That was the resistance!”

“You have no idea what that was!”

“Who else could it be?” Ahsoka grinned and stretched out her hands. Both her single silver saber and Maul’s saber staff zipped into her hands and she quickly passed the staff back to Maul. “I told you- I told you people will be out there to fight!”

“We do not have any information on what is happening in the galaxy let alone in a sector- “

“We can find out!” Ahsoka quickly cut in and grabbed the near empty backpack from the ground. “This is what we are looking for.”

Maul face twisted into a tight grimace and he weighed the saber staff in hand thoughtfully. “I am tired of sitting around this swamp. We do need information- much more information on what’s happening. But if we go, we go to observe.”

“We can help!”

“There is no point in helping if this little ‘resistance’ is no more than a group of thugs” Maul growled. “I do not intend to reveal my presence to Sidious let alone the Empire if _this_ ” he gestured to the communicator. “Is little better than idiots playing at soldiers.”

“Okay I can agree to that” Ahsoka said quickly. _Anything to get us closer._ “We need to get a foundation of information. And probably more gear for this including an astromech- “Ahsoka was cut off as a familiar gloved hand clamped over her shoulder and turned her around.

“Take this seriously Ahsoka” Maul said sharply, his bright eyes peering into her own.

“I am!” Ahsoka glared. “Just because I’m motivated to help people doesn’t mean I’m incapable!”

“Your words not mine” the half Sith finished. “But yes…If this resistance- if that is what it is- has any power, it will greatly benefit us.”

Ahsoka frowned at his words and stepped back from his gripping hand. “We are going to _help_ people. Not find power.”

“If we have power, we have more opportunity to gather intel, collect allies and most importantly hinder Sidious in anyway possible. _Power_ is absolutely necessary.”

Ahsoka ground her teeth and slapped her saber into its holder. “Just don’t get any funny ideas!”

Maul rolled his eyes in response and kicked over the fire until the rekindled flames were stepped out. “Fine. Let us go to the ship. I have the coordinates saved.”

“No, not yet” Ahsoka said and stepped towards the direction of the heart tree. “We must see Yoda before we leave.”

“We do not have to do anything” Maul said. “I am content to leave that toad in the mud.”

“Well I am not” Ahsoka replied and walked towards the vine cloaked corridor they arrived at the arena in. “I owe him a goodbye. And he asked to escort us to our ship.”

“Fine, I will meet you there.”

“No, you’re coming.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Yoda took a huge leap of faith by helping us, helping _you_. The least we can do is say goodbye.”

“Help?! He did not help. None of the shit that happened over the last few rotations would not have happened if he did not stick his nose in it!”

“None of that was his fault, it was ours…” Ahsoka sighed and gestured to the two of them. “And its over for the most part. Come on, you don’t have to talk to him!” Maul looked like he was ready to explode, so Ahsoka quickly thought of another reason. “Besides, you have the ships coordinates. If you leave without me, I will certainly get lost. It also gets a lot darker in that area and I can’t see.”

“That does not sound like my problem.”

“Well if you’re fine waiting for maybe days on end until I get to the ship, be my guest.”

“That is days _you_ have to wait so we can investigate what is happening with these supposed ‘resistance’ fighters. I am not the one with the bad deal here.”

“Argh!” Ahsoka groaned and strode up to the half Sith. “Just come with me. Please!” Maul sneered and looked down his nose at her. Even less than a meter away from him Ahsoka could hear his teeth grind together. “Look I’ll owe you one after this.”

Maul’s sneer turned into a grimace and he looked skywards with a groan. “…Fine. But if he starts any petty little taunts, I _will_ tear a hole in him!”

“Be my guest. I’m still not exactly happy with him” Ahsoka agreed and turned back towards the corridor.

“Wait, give me the bag” Maul held out his hand.

“What, why?”

“Because I want it!”

 _How childish._ Ahsoka rolled her eyes before shrugging off the backpack and tossing it to him. Maul muttered something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch, but she did feel some satisfaction twitch through the bond they shared. “Why does that make you happy?”

“Ever heard of chivalry?”

“What?” Ahsoka’s cheeks warmed again and she hurriedly looked away. “Didn’t you hear that chivalry is dead. Never expected it from you…” Maul said nothing further and shrugged the bag on. Though there was the barest hint of embarrassment seeping through the bond, but Ahsoka couldn’t tell if it was hers or his. The rest of the walk was completed in silence, but as the Force presence grew stronger as they approached the heart tree, Maul’s anger grew and grew. As they were reaching the perimeter tree line, Ahsoka stopped and turned to him. “Are you okay?”

“It does not matter, just get this over and done with” Maul snapped and glared at the distant blue glow a head of them.

“You know…” Ahsoka began and touched a thick glowing fern. “I know this time on Dagobah hasn’t been easy for you, but I really appreciate that you’re…well…”

“Well what?” Maul asked tersely.

“You’re making this work” Ahsoka finished and looked back to meet his gaze. “I have known a few Sith in my time. Ventress, especially Ventress but also Dooku. Ventress helped me once but…You’ve been at least accepting of all that’s happening.”

“…You are a special case Lady Tano” Maul said. “And believe it or not, I have worked in close partnerships with people before. My brother…I am not someone who does not take this seriously.”

Ahsoka remembered their confrontation on Mandalore, on how he was completely fine to let Jesse leave more or less unharmed. _He is reasonable at times…Maybe even compassionate, but that might be a wishful lie._ “Thank you” Ahsoka said softly.

Maul breathed heavily out his nose and then nodded towards the heart tree. “Go on then.”

Ahsoka nodded and stepped between the dense trees, but she was lost in thought. _His brother…Sidious killed him. Is he looking for someone to fill that role?_ Ahsoka remembered the stories she heard of Savage Opress. He was a brute, no better than a beast from what she heard. He killed Jedi like they were no better than cattle and took pleasure in it too. _It is no wonder Maul liked him so,_ a cold feeling settled in her stomach. _I am nothing like him, and he won’t find any likeness of him in me!_

As she stepped through the trees, she immediately sought Yoda’s small form folded in meditation right in front of the tree’s huge trunk. Sensing her presence, the old master looked up and met her eyes with gentleness and kindness. “Young Ahsoka” he grumbled. “To see you so soon, I am surprised.”

“I know” Ahsoka attempted a half smile and walked forwards. “There has been a change of plans.”

“Hm” Yoda nodded but his eyes immediately flicked to the side as the undergrowth crunched behind her. Ahsoka turned and watched apprehensively as Maul stepped through with face made of stone. “Maul” Yoda nodded. “To see you here, I did not expect either.”

“I would not be here if it was not for _her_ ” Maul growled and nodded towards Ahsoka. “She insisted I come.”

Ahsoka hissed angrily but Maul refused to even glance in her direction. Soft padding interrupted the tranquillity of the swamp and the half Jedi’s eyes widened wonderingly as Yoda approached the half Sith. “Many years I have lived, yes. Not too old for lessons hm, hm” he laughed but his eyes were focused on Maul’s alone. “Even from one so young” he nodded to Ahsoka. “Harshly I have treated you, Maul. Some of that is deserved, yes. Aware I am now of how the Jedi order has harmed you. We should not have. Know not what happened, Ahsoka refused to share but aware of the blame we have. Ask for your forgiveness I will not, doubtful I am you would ask for ours for your crimes. However, refuse I do to part with sabers drawn.”

Ahsoka watched in awe as her oldest master near apologise to Maul. And even though his face was blank she could easily feel his surprise and suspicion echo in the bond they shared. Suddenly it twitched more, and those golden eyes appeared within her mind again. _“You did not tell him?”_ Maul asked.

But the truth was she did after all the events that followed, but she could not lie to him, he saw through them all. Ahsoka raised her head and met his real eyes before her. _“I would do nothing to harm you.”_ That wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the answer he asked for. Maul’s eyes within her mind and in front of her widened momentarily, and that stony face transformed into a peacefulness she had seen only rarely.

“Very well Yoda” Maul said. “Though it would do me well not to see you again.”

Yoda laughed again and nodded. “Agree on that I do. Now tell me” he turned back to Ahsoka. “Intend to leave you do. Promise I did to escort the both of you. Tell me why you have decided to leave as we walk.”

Maul took the lead, giving the two some space but not out of ear shot. Ahsoka felt he needed some of his own space after the surprising things Yoda said to him. “We intercepted a message on non-military frequency. There is people fighting the Empire, master.”

“Resistance hm?” Yoda hummed and his face grew deadly serious. “A trap is it?”

“No, it felt too real. And both Maul and I are only going to observe so far.”

“I am still sceptical” Maul said over his shoulder, his saber staff lighting the way before them. “It has only been a month’s rotation since Sidious took power. That is too soon for any real group to form power and a serious war effort.”

“They may have been acting earlier against the Separatists” Ahsoka said quickly.

“Correct, Maul is” Yoda said to Ahsoka’s surprise and the old master shrugged. “Experience he has from Death Watch. And the Shadow Collective.”

“They were already an organised faction and factions” Maul grumbled.

“Risks there are in revealing yourselves. Worth it, is this mission? Tell me, Ahsoka.”

“Yes, it is” Ahsoka replied and Yoda nodded resignedly.

Another two hours passed as the trio walked deeper and deeper into the darkness of Dagobah. Soon, Ahsoka began to recognise the deep mires that circled beneath the slick roots. She began to recognise some of the twisted sentinels that rose high above her. Eventually the three stumbled across a large and mottled lump that was near indistinguishable from the wildlife around them. Maul raised his saber staff high and gently ran his hand down the side of the lump revealing glossy silver durasteel.

“We are here.”

Ahsoka eyes stared at the ship. The ship that she knew she will be confined to for who knew how long. The humid air whistled in her nostrils as she breathed deeply, knowing this may be the last time for a while she breathed organic air. _And Yoda…_ Ahsoka felt the sadness that fell silent in her chest rekindle itself as she turned back to the old master as Maul began to tear away the thick camouflage the two had covered the ship with. “Master…” Ahsoka began softly.

Yoda held a hand up and gently placed it over Ahsoka’s. “Goodbye this is, young Ahsoka.”

“I don’t want it to be a goodbye” she whispered. “I wish…I wish we did not argue.”

“Padawan you are no longer. A right you have, to question everything around you. You grow beyond my teachings, my wisdom. Only right it is” Yoda replied softly.

“I still wish we had not” Ahsoka gripped his old hand firmly and sunk to her knees before him.

“Embrace change you do. The world you touch bares your mark everywhere you go. See it in myself I do. See it in Maul also.” Maul froze as he heard this, but then immediately carried on as if nothing happened.

“Master…” Ahsoka whispered and the grief within her grew behind her eyes until they burned. “Are you sure you cannot come with us?”

“Feel my destiny here I do, young Ahsoka. Binds me it does, too strongly for me to resist. If I could…Then most surely I would.”

The Nimoidian ship hissed into life as Maul accessed the hidden control panels on the side and Ahsoka stared at it with sudden dread. _No…I don’t want to leave him yet!_ But the large door sighed with its pistons and a clean white light permeated the depths of the swamp as it lowered itself. “This isn’t goodbye master! I will see you again I promise you!”

“No” Yoda said and squeezed her hand. “Do not make promises you do not know you can keep. Harm you it will, harm you it will more than me.”

“I still…” Ahsoka’s face turned to the ground, worthless tears burning in her eyes yet refusing to fall. There was movement to her left and Ahsoka’s face turned towards the ship until her eyes fell on Maul. He stood leaning against the edge of the door; his arms crossed as he met her eyes. There was a calmness there, one that dampened the grief burning as a fire in her heart. His presence was comforting, more comforting than she would ever admit. “Please be safe” she turned back to Yoda, her voice a whisper. “If you were to go…”

“Hm, hm” Yoda chortled sadly. “Not finished with me, the Force is. Fear not. I will exist in this galaxy for years to come” he smiled and pat her hand. “Move on we must. Now Ahsoka” he nodded to Maul. “Waiting for you, your friend is.”

Their time was up. Ahsoka’s heart weighed like a rock, nearly anchoring her to her spot. _I don’t want to leave you!_ “If I can come back I will, master. I promise I will try.”

Something brewed behind his eyes. Like he had one last message of wisdom to say to her in their final meeting. But instead he smiled and squeezed her hand one last time before he let go. “Of course, you will.”

“Ahsoka” a deep and smooth voice said. Ahsoka turned to Maul whose hand was outstretched to her like the carved hand of some majestic nameless statue. Gratitude welled in her chest as she stood and approached him, her hand falling into his own. If he did not, then she did not know if she could ever stand. His long fingers gripped her wrist, the leather squeaking against her gloves and gently pulled her up into the ship. Ahsoka gave him a weak smile and had to force herself to remove her hand from his. _I needed that kindness more than I can admit_ , she thought. Yoda raised his hand to her and Maul, his brown eyes soaking in the ship’s light like two dark chips of obsidian.

“May the Force be with you both” Yoda’s solemn voice carried over the trees like the wind that so rarely touched their roots. 

“Master” Ahsoka bowed her head. “And may the Force be with you.”

Maul said nothing but nodded respectfully to the old master and gently pressed the button accessing the door. As the door hissed shut, Ahsoka could not help but feel something had ended, some well read chapter had finally closed. “Do you think I will see him again?” Ahsoka whispered.

“…I do not know. For your sake, I hope you do” Maul answered. “Now come, the galaxy is beckoning.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry guys I just have memes.  
> \--------------------------  
> Maul: Oh no she's hot!  
> \--------------------------  
> Ahsoka and Maul staring into each others eyes-  
> "Every kiss begins with-"  
> Yoda bursting through the bushes-  
> "Ketamine! A hydrochloride tranquilizer!"  
> \--------------------------  
> But thus concludes the Dagobah story arc. And now begins the partisan's arc...If you google star wars partisans you may have a clue which characters are going to be in the story next...


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this came out quicker than expected. It's not the chapter I expected to write but the one that was needed. We have a little fluff, a little bit of humor I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> I didn't quite get to the next 'story arc' as much as I wished to. But you can't jump from point A to point C without passing through B. Let me say, things are about to go from 0 to 100 pretty quick haha.

For once everything was near silent for Ahsoka as she sat, reclined against the stiff pilot’s seat. There was no beastly cries of the swamp, no murmur of water, not even the rustle of leaves to prick at the Togruta’s montrals. It was silent and Ahsoka was left with her thoughts. Her thoughts were loud against the near indiscernible hum of the hyperdrive or the chime of notifications on the control panels. The Nimoidian ship hummed as if pleased to finally be active again. Though Ahsoka couldn’t help but feel she was making a mistake leaving Dagobah. _There is no mistake,_ she thought and drummed her fingers against the arm rest. _We left, Yoda blessed our leaving and refused to go himself. It is what must be done. I will see him again!_ She thought resolutely. Even if Yoda said they would not… _He may be old. But that doesn’t mean he understands the Force so well as to predict all aspects of the future!_ It was what she told herself anyway.

A door hissed behind her and Ahsoka glanced into the reflection of the ship’s viewing screen to watch as Maul stepped out from the refresher. His clothes were a new fresher pitch of black, grey and dull green. It was almost startling to see not a speck of mud on them. Even more interesting was that the red of his skin was even more vibrant than before. _Well my skin probably look bright too after how dark Dagobah was._ She idly rubbed the skin-tight shirt material against her shoulder, relishing the fresh feeling. Maul refused to take the first shower, and the half Jedi could not help but think of that presumably dead chivalry he showed over and over.

“How far have we travelled?” Maul asked as he sank himself into the co-pilot’s chair.

“Not far” Ahsoka flicked her fingers over the various symbols on the computer display and a long line of numbers appeared on the screen in bright blue before them. It read: 4971.86. “We have only travelled seven parsecs and that…” she gestured to the number. “Is how far we have left to go.”

Maul growled under breath and rubbed at his viciously eyes like there was sand blown in them. “It will take us days to reach…Wherever those coordinates will lead us” he muttered.

“The coordinates are taking us to Onderon. It will take us three daily rotations and seventeen hourly rotations” Ahsoka informed. _Onderon… I have been there before with Anakin and Obi-wan. Could the Partisan’s be-_

“Oh really?” Maul’s voice was rising suspiciously high as he clasped his hands behind his head and looked up. “Does that not sound just wonderful? Does that not sound splendid? Absolutely perfectly splendid, Ahsoka.”

“Wow sarcasm, you really had to dig deep for that didn’t you?” Ahsoka frowned at her companion. “This could be worse.”

Maul just pinched the bridge of his nose and glared out the viewing window as if the streaks of blue and white were mocking him. Rolling her eyes, Ahsoka turned back to the ships computer and tried to find new information. Typing in ‘partisan’ revealed nothing. And due to their prolonged isolation on Dagobah, there was no information towers to connect and access. They were weeks behind on relevant information at best. _So, we have no information, and we are just diving headfirst into potentially occupied space with nothing but our sabers and ourselves. Sounds like a Tuesday._ Ahsoka sighed and sat back against the chair’s back. _But I had the Jedi then and the 501 st. It’s just me now._ Her eyes flickered to Maul whose eyes stared off out the window, lost in thought. _Well me and a Sith…My friend._

The silence stretched on in the small cabin, the weight of it pressing down against her skin like coarse fabric. It was an unusual for them to be silent in such a way. On Dagobah if they were not busy with something such as cleaning sabers or mending cybernetic legs the two would talk often. Either passing around ideas related to combat, strategy, weapon craft, they were all subjects the two were well versed in. Sometimes, but only rarely, they would talk about other things, deeper things. But not now, not holed up in a small pilot cabin with nothing to do but look out a window for near four days. The pressure of the silence grew and grew until Ahsoka grit her teeth as she abruptly sat up. Maul’s eyes focused on her immediately and watched intently as she fiddled with the dials on the control panel.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Ahsoka ignored him as she pressed a button and suddenly a deep and jazzy voice filled the room. “ **Hello and welcome back listeners to the Hyper Drive Haven, your one and only music station as you travel across the stars. You are listening to D.J Mathreen bringing back to back tunes of only the greatest hits. It’s throwback Thursday but that doesn’t mean the party stops!** ” D.J Mathreen’s voice chuckled musically across the pilot’s cabin. Out of the corner of Ahsoka’s eyes Maul’s face grew more and more disgusted. “ **Now let the good times roll. Starting off the top from over ten yearly rotations ago is the chart-breaking song Tik ToK by Lady Kesha. Now strap on your safety belts ladies, gentlemen and you other saucy beings, it’s not safe to dance and fly! The party starts…now!** ”

The D. J’s voice faded away as another _very_ different voice took his place.

“Wake up in the morning  
Feeling like P Diddy.  
Got my glasses on  
I’m out the door  
gonna hit this city- “

“No!” Maul snarled and slammed his finger into the same button Ahsoka used and Lady Kesha’s voice tragically died much like Savage Opress. 

“Oh, come on, it’s the only music station available in hyper drive!” Ahsoka exclaimed.

“If you call _that_ music you need to be re-educated!” Maul growled and sat back in his seat with a huff.

“Seriously? Kesha was awesome back in the day.”

“If you were a foreign child who doesn’t understand common speech!”

“Well I was a child thank you. Thirteen to be exact when it came out.”

Maul frowned and his golden eyes flickered to her face for a moment. Ahsoka’s face warmed as his gaze travelled over her face and some of her body. _What is he-_ Scowling Ahsoka crossed her arms across her chest and glared at the half Sith. “Are you only twenty-three?” Maul asked, his face perplexed.

“Ah, no. I’m twenty-four” Ahsoka grumbled. _I think my birthday was a few weeks ago…_ His eyes peered into her own with a myriad of thoughts that she could not guess. Uncomfortable, the half Jedi looked out the window tersely. “Why? How old are you?”

“That is a very impolite question” Maul’s deep voice rolled over her montrals.

“You’re being a hypocrite.”

Maul growled under his breath and leaned back in his seat, one of his durasteel legs propping itself on the dash. “I am thirty-five” he bit out reluctantly.

“Oh” Ahsoka said and couldn’t stop her eyes from passing over his face again. _He looks younger than thirty-five._ Though he had no hair to gray and perhaps his tattoos hid any marking on his face that would show age.

“Take a picture it lasts longer” Maul snapped suddenly.

Ahsoka blinked and realised she had been staring at him to her chagrin. “Sorry” Ahsoka said embarrassedly. “You just…Don’t look like you’re in your mid-thirties.”

“Well I was stuck in a pit for roughly ten years though I cannot be sure. Night brothers age slowly too. But you- “Maul pointed her a burning look. “Seem older than twenty-four!”

“Maul!” Ahsoka growled. “That is the last thing a woman wants to hear!”

“It is how you hold yourself. It is your confidence not because you actually _look_ physically older” he snarked.

“Well…” Ahsoka gestured angrily around her. “Fine, I guess. And by the way!” she pointed a finger at Maul. “Kesha is not that bad.”

“Zillo shit” he said and swatted her hand away.

“Well what music do you like?!” the half jedi demanded and crossed her arms grumpily.

“Anything other than that” Maul muttered, and his head rolled to the ceiling with a sigh. “Something…Something that seems different. Something enigmatic and rich. Not techno trash like _that._ ”

 _Escapism…_ Ahsoka thought. _Can’t say I’m surprised. But what about his singing?_ The question burned within her mouth to be said but she could not allow herself to ask. _Oh, he definitely won’t like me asking that. He hated that I heard him the first time…_ That whole memory of their fight and the pain that pierced her head renewed the headache that brewed behind her eyes. The fatigue she felt press down on her shoulder on Dagobah weighed down even more so in this moment. Tiredly she rubbed her temples and breathed deeply but nothing helped. The exhaustion stayed, the bone-tired weariness that followed her everywhere. Even her teasing of Maul did not help. “Well alright. Now _old man_ \- “

“Watch yourself!”

“Take care of the controls please. I haven’t slept in a bed for a long time and I- “

“I know you are tired” Maul grouched and tapped the side of his head. “I can feel it. Go on then and rest.”

“…Are you sure?” Ahsoka asked, her hands poised on the arm rests.

“I have nothing else to do. Go on” he nodded to the chamber behind him. “It would not do for you to be exhausted.”

“Only if you take a break next” Ahsoka stood but did not move further beyond the half Sith who stared out the viewing window.

“I sleep when I need to.”

“Maul” she placed a hand on his shoulder. Maul stiffened at the contact and the half Jedi purposely looked away as warmth flowed up her hand and into her stomach. “Sleep after me okay?”

Maul snorted a half-formed curse passing through his lips before he nodded and shrugged her hand off his shoulder. “Very well Lady Tano.”

Ahsoka nodded and retreated away into the sleeping quarters at the back of the ship close to the main hanger’s door. The quarter’s door slid open with a hiss revealing a cool and dark room with only one bed. It was small and narrow and just as uncomfortable as it looks. It could just fit Ahsoka by herself let alone two people. She frowned at the thought, glaring at the bed but her eyes quickly tracked behind her until she found herself staring at the back of Maul’s head. _Those horns might get-What…What am I even thinking!_ Ahsoka scowled and aggressively pressed the sleeping chamber’s door closed. Darkness flooded the room with barely a click, and Ahsoka was left staring at a point in the wall where Maul’s head would have sat. _It’s just I…No. I know what he is, I know who I am. This does not bare even looking at, even in a dream!_ She growled beneath her breath and strode to her bed like it was an enemy smirking at her in self-congratulation.

 _Remember a month ago where you would not consider- would not pander the possibility of being his friend?_ A slimy voice in her mind asked.

“Shut up!” Ahsoka growled and rolled into bed as if rebelling the mere thought. “Everything is different now.”

 _As you say…_ The voice replied before retreating into the darkness of her mind.

“It means nothing…” Ahsoka mumbled and pulled the covers of the blankets high to her chin. The rough texture of faux wool and cotton rubbed against her arms and throat distracting her from any thought that lay in her mind. Like sandpaper scours away even the wiriest of grains, the blanket pulled her away from most of her mind’s agenda. _It’s nothing,_ she thought, and she meant it. She closed her eyes and another pair surfaced within her mind. Not through the bond, it was no pair of phantom eyes. She pictured him there. Him with those bright golden irises that looked into hers as if they were staring at her from above. So close that all she had to do was lean forwards and her nose would brush against _his_. “Enough!” she snarled and mentally shoved those knowing eyes aside. _Formations. Remember formation!_ She thought. The boring and dreary formations and sequences of saber combat flickered in her mind. Battling with her confusing feelings in her chest over and over again. Glimpses of golden eyes, red skin with black tattoos that she saw in the corners of her vision faded away into nothingness as the cuts of her avatar, the blows of her own self destroyed them. Only then was it enough and any traces of Maul faded from mind to the oblivion of sleep. 

Whether a dream comes instantly or slowly they come all the same. For a time, Ahsoka looked out over a calm lake coated in a pink sunrise and creams of clouds. _This is me,_ she thought as she stared at her reflection in the water. _This is who I am._ It was as different from the storm in Maul’s mind as mountains are to a sand hill. She crouched against the water’s surface, ignoring the coolness that washed against her knees as she placed her palm against her own reflection. _Did Maul see anything?_ The half Jedi thought. _I was dragged under, but he…_ Ahsoka frowned and tried to push her hand beneath the water’s surface, but only large ripples spread out from her hand. _Why can’t I…_

The ripples grew. The edges sweeping out and away from her into the distance until her eyes could no longer track them. Her reflection shook and broke against the tiny waves, smearing away all of her face and body. Except for her eyes. Cerulean blue eyes peered into her own, but they _were not_ hers no more. “What?” Ahsoka whispered and hurriedly stood to her feet. Those eyes blinked and for a fraction of a second, Ahsoka swore she saw them turn a sickly yellow just as they disappeared. _Those are not Maul’s eyes, I know his eyes, and these are not his._ But there was something familiar about these. Something dreadful, that crept into her chest like a cold dead hand. 

“It’s just a dream. A Force dream. I just have to wake up” Ahsoka’s chest puffed out as she breathed in as much air as possible and squeezed her eyes shut. _One…two…three,_ she breathed out and quickly repeated the cycle over and over. She still opened her eyes to a pink sunrise over a lake. _Maybe I can contact…_ Ahsoka swallowed out of the corner of her eye, the water began to ripple again. A harsh curse poured out of her mouth as Ahsoka brushed her presence against the bond in the back of her mind. It twitched and writhed against her, but nothing changed. _He is not replying…_. Something swished against the water behind her. The half Jedi’s shaky breathing faltered, and goose bumps prickled on the nape of her neck as it grew closer. Ahsoka’s gentle presence forgot itself and she desperately slammed her mind into the dark bond that waited there. Immediately two golden eyes appeared, burning holes of light in the bond.

_“What is- “_

_“Wake me up!”_ The water quaked as a dark shadow crept behind her. Ahsoka’s hand gripped her waist for her saber but to her horror her hand only found an empty holster. Dread’s icy hand gripped her heart. _“Wake me up now!”_

_“What- “_

Maul’s eyes and words faded as the shadow behind her stretched out a hand. It touched her, a cold hand matching the cold fear in her chest gripped her shoulder tightly, its fingers digging in. It touched her shoulder and pulled her around. _No._ Ahsoka turned. A figure, tall and long loomed over her shrouded in a cloak of blackness. In the shadow of a cowl, two angry and sickly yellow eyes peered at her. Breath choked in her throat and Ahsoka tried to step away from him, away from the figure but she was rooted to the spot, helpless.

“Choose…” its breathy voice muttered. “You must choose. There is something different about you. Something not right” the figure leaned in, hissing under its breath.

“Who are you?!” Ahsoka whispered fiercely as her hands trembled in fists by her sides.

The yellow eyes frowned, and the dark, gloved hand suddenly snapped from her shoulder to her throat. Ahsoka cried out as long cold fingers dug into her throat, squeezing the air from lungs bit by bit. _Maul- Maul!_ Ahsoka shouted for him in her mind but there was no answer. Its fingers dug in deeper, pain lanced up the sides of her neck making her vision spot even as Ahsoka thrashed desperately against its hold.

“You must choose!” its voice roared, those yellow eyes bulging wide before her. “Choose Padawan!”

“No…Fuck off!” Ahsoka choked out and the figures hand squeezed all the harder, its fingers squeaking against her throat. _I will…_ Her lungs screamed for air, and those eyes watched intently as the life was squeezed from her. But something changed behind her and the water rippled more beneath her feet. That something shifted from behind Ahsoka and the figures acid eyes snapped up over her shaking shoulder.

“…You” its raspy voice growled.

“Me” a deeply smooth voice rolled behind her and the last of Ahsoka’s breath hitched as a wonderfully familiar red and black tattooed hand grabbed her shoulder and the other ripped away the hand at her throat. “Wake up” Maul’s voice whispered by her head. The lake dragged away from her as her body was thrown high into the air, but those huge yellow eyes followed her until the shadowy figure were dots on the water’s surface.

“You must choose…” the voice whispered.

Ahsoka’s hands slammed onto the edge of the bed and on something warm, gasping for breath as she blinked around the dark room. It was gone, the figure the lake, all of it. “Ahsoka” Maul’s rich voice growled above her. “Ahsoka look at me.”

“Ma- “the half Jedi choked on the air and a large hand reached around from behind and gently tilted her face upwards. “Did- you see it?” Ahsoka gasped. The warm thing in her other hand shifted and Ahsoka found her fingers were flossed between Maul’s perfectly over the dark tattoos on red. The half Sith ignored her fingers that clutched at his hand and pulled it away as he activated a button on the side of the wall. A sense of loss washed over her as he pulled his hand away, but the tight pain in her throat and head muffled the feeling quickly. Lights flashed into life making Ahsoka hissed as her vision spotted but the dark suspicion on Maul’s face drew her eyes.

“I saw it” Maul growled and gently touched the column of her throat, his golden eyes peering at it solemnly. “Whoever that was, he or she was real.”

“What?” Ahsoka swallowed tightly as his hand moved away from her neck.

“That is no phantom pain you are feeling” he said darkly and summoned the small mirror on the wall to his hand. The mirror tilted in his hands and Ahsoka’s pretty reflection stared back at her with wide bloodshot eyes and a collar of dark purple bruises around her throat.

“How- “Ahsoka doubled over in a retching cough, desperately covering her mouth and throat to try and quell it. Her head throbbed with each breath of air numbing the words that Maul incessantly muttered by her montrals. “Water- “Ahsoka gasped between the laborious breaths that took her lungs. “Please.” She dimly heard Maul’s heavy footsteps over her own meagre breaths as he disappeared from sight for a second and then returned with recycled water in hand.

“Do you know who that was?” Maul asked and pressed the silicon pouch of water into her hands. Ahsoka scrambled for the cap of the water pouch and tore it off eagerly before she tipped it into her mouth. “Ahsoka!” Maul growled.

“Give me…a moment!” the half Jedi snarled over the water. “I was nearly murdered!”

“I’ve been _nearly_ murdered too many times to count! Is this _dream_ something we must concern ourselves with” Maul glared back as his eyes flicked back and forth from her throat to her own cerulean eyes.

“I…” Ahsoka began but something stopped her. _I don’t know who that was. I don’t know why that person was…_ “This is not the first time I have seen this…person” her raw voice whispered over the water pouch.

“…You told me of someone you saw on Dagobah” Maul said and crouched to eye level with her, his tattooed face barely two feet away from her.

“Yes” Ahsoka whispered and coughed into her fist. “I saw his eyes. They are Sith eyes Maul, and they- “

“They what?” Maul pushed the water pouch down from her lips.

“I _recognised_ them!” Ahsoka’s face pinched with fear and leaned closer in. “And they- your eyes are the only dark side eyes I have seen.”

“So, you think that was me?”

“It wasn’t though!” she hissed and immediately couched into her hand. Maul’s hard face softened slightly, and he removed his hand from the water pouch.

“Yet you recognised them?”

“I don’t know; but I must. Maul, is this what it was like when Sidious was looking for you? On the escape shuttle?”

Maul’s golden eyes glossed over with a thinly veiled look of fear even as he looked to the side, his finger scrunching on the pants of his leg. “There was no possession within my mind. When he sought me, Ahsoka, it was as if every part that was me turned and became part of him. Imagine your own eyes turning inside you, but they are no longer yours…No this is _not_ what Sidious would do. This person knows you. And now, whoever they are, they know I am with you.” 

The water pouch dropped between her feet with a dull thud. “What?” she whispered.

“Yes, that thing saw me as a presence within your mind too. Our partnership may not be so secret as we hoped” Maul got to his feet and paced the small length of the chamber with his arms crossed behind his back. The dark bond twitched within Ahsoka’s mind and a niggling feeling of apprehension and anger pressed against her mind. Wincing, she knuckled her hand against her forehead as her headache felt ripe to split her skull apart.

“Right…We need to make sure that this- “a harsh cough scraped through her throat for a minute and she quickly tipped the last of the water down her throat. “That this does not happen again!” she looked up to find Maul staring at her intently. “Please tell me we have those painkillers still- But I think we must guard each other’s minds.”

“Guard each other’s minds?” the half Sith repeated and shook his head. “At every second of every hour? We will not be able to do _anything_ if we devote every ounce of willpower making sure something does not potentially invade our minds.”

“Not while we are awake of course” Ahsoka rolled her head and winced as the pain in her head spiked. Sneering she pinched the bride of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, _if that fucker tries it again, I’ll kill him_. “We have to sleep together” she mumbled. The boom of the heavy durasteel legs marching across the floor stopped and ushered in a complete silence. Frowning, Ahsoka glanced up over her fingers and was met with Maul’s rarest wide-eyed stare, his jaw working in tight circles. _Wait what did I say?_

“Ah…” Ahsoka shrugged uncomfortably. “Are you alright?”

“…”

“Maul?”

Maul blinked at her and suddenly his wide-eyed stare broke into a toothy grin. “I am honoured Ahsoka, truly.”

“What?”

“But I must decline. For you see, I am a little bit…” he gestured to himself vaguely.

 _What is he…_ Then it clicked. “No!” Ahsoka shouted and jumped to her feet, horrified. “That’s not what I- No absolutely not!”

“Oh, come now. I did not think you would take rejection so- “

“MAUL!” Ahsoka threw the thin pillow at him and it bounced off his chest pitifully. “WE GO TO SLEEP AT THE SAME TIME!” she yelled hoarsely, but his grin only grew wider much to her mortification.

“Do not worry you are a lovely girl- “

“I swear if you don’t shut up, I will throw you out the ship!” Ahsoka snarled. Her face blazed like tinder on a hot flame so much that she practically glowed. 

Darth Maul, ex-apprentice of Darth Sidious, Mand’alor, Sith lord and one of the greatest dualists the galaxy had seen _giggled._ “Hm, alright no need to be so _touchy_ ” his shoulders shook with mirth. “Be careful. All that blood rushing to your face you may just pass out.”

“GET OUT!”

“Calm down. I am just having a little fun” the half Sith gestured peacefully and threw the discarded pillow back onto the slim bed. “But that- “he pointed to her throat, the dark purple bruises vivid against her orange skin. “Is a serious problem.”

“You think I don’t know that” Ahsoka muttered sourly at the floor. Her cheeks still burned from embarrassment, but her opinion still stood. It would be safer to guard each other in sleep.

“There is some merit in what you say, but I am not sure it would work. And I am certain that would involve you being partially within _my_ mind” he gave her a pointed look. “I do not want that!”

“Look, I can understand that. But as you say it may only be a partial connection” Ahsoka said and sat back down on the bed with a sneer. “I don’t know what else to do, Maul. I know this is not ideal for either of us but if whoever that was tries that again I may actually…die” she whispered the last words and slowly looked up to his eyes. Maul grimaced slightly and fingered the edge of his bracers.

“Hm” he grit his teeth like brooding loth wolf. “We have to find another solution.”

“We don’t have time for that!”

“We find another solution but, in the meantime- “Maul’s golden eyes flashed up and burned into hers suspiciously. The bond twitched with his apprehension a gross and stomach pulling sensation. “We will have to do as you suggest.”

“You mean it?” Maul nodded reluctantly and muttered something under his breath she could not quite catch. Ahsoka sighed in relief and slouched back against the cool wall. It felt rather nice against her aching skull. “Thank you” she smiled weakly at the half Sith. “I appreciate it, and also for helping me against that _thing_.”

Those confusing feelings she felt from Maul on Dagobah reappeared gently and softly moved through the bond again like a tiny wave. Flushing again, Ahsoka looked to the side and fingered the folds of her cloak she used as a blanket. Whatever Maul was feeling, it was also making him feel uncomfortable.

“You were only asleep for two hours. I am not tired yet so you will wait until later, until we _sleep_ ” Maul grumbled.

“I don’t feel like sleeping at the moment anyway” Ahsoka shivered as those yellow eyes flashed within her mind for a second. _What did it mean that I must choose?_ She shook her head derisively. Maul nodded and without another word he left the sleeping quarters, his shoulders set determinedly. _Well, I hope for his sake this works,_ Ahsoka thought as she watched his back retreat from view. _He called me lovely-_ Ahsoka’s face blazed again and she cringed against the wall as if to hide behind the cold steel. _Why did I say- He was just mocking me, what am I thinking!_

Well, a lot of things at once apparently. An hour passed of painful rumination and every so often Ahsoka poked and prodded the ring of bruises around her throat, almost expecting them to disappear but they never did. “How can someone in a Force dream do this?” Ahsoka murmured as she peered at her reflection. It didn’t make sense. However, that was would have to be very strong with the Force and know her well. _And be a Sith. That wasn’t Sidious and Maul_ stopped _it from happening…Vader._ Maybe the rumours of Vader weren’t so baseless after all. _But how does…_ Ahsoka sighed and dropped the mirror on the bed. It didn’t make sense. _Maul said something on Belderone of a connection between Anakin and Vader. But that’s impossible Obi-wan said Anakin is-_ She cut herself off and stood to her feet quickly. “No, I can’t think of you like that” she whispered to the room. A cold silence was her only reply and a small shiver went down the half Jedi’s spine. Eventually, Ahsoka had enough of her confinement and marched out the sleeping chamber stoically towards the medicine cabinet. Pink pallets rattled in their jar as she dropped two into her palm and painfully dry swallowed them.

“I should have brought some of the water from the pools beneath the heart tree” Ahsoka sighed and rubbed her throat. Maul’s golden eyes flickered up from the data pad in hand and looked at her through the viewing window’s reflection.

“Would that even work outside of those miserable pools?”

“Probably not, but who knows” she said and moved into the co-pilots seat besides the half Sith.

“Have you given any more thought about that person in your dream?” Maul asked and flicked his long finger up the data pad.

“That’s all I have been thinking about. I know all we have is rumours but…” Ahsoka tongue felt heavy in her mouth. “What if it’s Vader?”

“Sidious’ new apprentice” Maul sighed heavily and placed the data pad on his arm rest. Ahsoka watched him intently as he scowled at the window, his bright eyes blazing with hatred. “It could very well be. Have you ever heard of the rule of two?”

“I’m not sure” Ahsoka propped her jaw against her fist and felt his emotions grow darker as each second passed.

“Long ago, a Sith lord Darth Bane came to the revelation that the sheer number of Siths in the galaxy was unsustainable and there would be no true progression of power. Individuals could never achieve maximum potential because the sheer number of competitors would simply unite and destroy them. As you can see…” Maul’s head turned, and his large eyes fixed onto Ahsoka’s like beacons trapping her with their golden depths. “That is not fruitful. So, a rare Sith lord, one who was so strong he was near untouchable sought to bring about the end of this turgid existence. He killed everyone he could, Sith or even a simple Darkside user like it was a game to him. This went on and on for years until they were gone and he- for the most part- was supreme. Eventually, he came across a young human girl, one who was Force sensitive but not yet taken by the Jedi at the time. It was there the rule of two came to life so to speak. He trained the girl, he beat her down and broke her until she was nothing other than who he created; Darth Zannah. But this is where the true law of the rule comes in” Maul leaned in closer. Ahsoka found herself sitting on the edge of her seat, waiting anxiously for his next words.

“The master would exist as the true representation of the Sith lords and Darkside. He or she would train an apprentice so that their teachings would pass on however: The apprentice at some stage will _always_ challenge the master. And if they are not powerful enough, they will die.”

“What?” Ahsoka shook her head in confusion, her mouth dry with nerves. To speak of the Darkside and the Sith in such detail made her skin crawl. “Then what is the point of training them?”

“If the apprentice manages to kill the master, then that person would be deemed worthy of their predecessor’s title. And then they would find their own apprentice.”

Ahsoka swallowed and looked uneasily out the viewing window to the stars that streaked past them in bolts of blue and white. _And that’s what fate Anakin had before Obi-wan…_ She shook her head angrily, forcing the thought aside. “What…What does this have to do with Vader?”

“Sidious _is_ the Sith lord he is the master. And this Vader is the only other figure in the galaxy that we know could be connected to him. If he is a Sith lord, then he must be the apprentice. That thing in your mind was _not_ Sidious, not at all…Unless my old master has dissolved the rule of two…But no he tried- “ Maul cut himself off with a hiss, his long fingers biting into the padding of the seat until the upholstery tore. Ahsoka did not need the bond to see the anger and hatred that burned in Maul’s eyes, but that did not shock her. What did was the betrayal she felt in him. _You can’t be serious?!_ A cold feeling spread in her chest.

“Maul…” Ahsoka began and those angry eyes flicked to her once more. “Do you want to be Sidious’ apprentice? After all he has done- “

“No, you do not get to tell me ‘after all he has done’! You do not even know a fraction of it!” Maul snarled. “His teachings were torture, abuse and inhumane and they were so since I was three years old. He then left me to suffer in that fucking pit knowingly for _years_. But do you want to know the worst part Ahsoka?” he leaned in, forcing Ahsoka to pull herself away with a grimace. “He was all I knew. He made sure of that. And then he cast me aside like I was _nothing_ to him!”

Cold shock froze Ahsoka’s tongue to her mouth and she stared at him, trying to recognise the smiles, the peacefulness she saw on his face on Dagobah. _Is this you? Is this who you really are?!_ Something must have changed across her face, or the half Sith must have felt the anger, the disgust Ahsoka felt that part of Maul _still_ wanted to be Sidious’ apprentice. His face jerked to the side like he was cruelly slapped, his snarl fading as his eyes glossy with fear flickered from side to side. “You do not understand. He gave me everything and then took it all away and more. He took Savage…I want him dead Ahsoka I want him destroyed.”

 _Oh…_ Ahsoka looked away from the loneliness in the pits of Maul’s eyes. _What can I say to that? Of course, I don’t understand._ Still her heart forced words to her lips, and they were more honest than she expected. “Well…You’re not alone. And neither am I. Sidious can’t take that, not now.” The loss and anger of his face faded slightly as Maul shook his head, staring off into the distance where memories lay. _Great, way to stick your foot into it,_ Ahsoka rubbed her throat waiting hopefully for Maul to say anything or better yet change topic. _My feelings aren’t wrong, but I guess…Neither are his. Oh, I don’t know none of this makes sense!_

“There is no chance that he is no longer following the Rule of Two?” Ahsoka asked sheepishly.

“It is very unlikely” the half Sith muttered. “It suits him better that there is only one apprentice.”

“But…Count Dooku had an apprentice. Asajj Ventress.”

“My brother was also his apprentice briefly. Please, Sidious only allowed Dooku to have an apprentice to keep him occupied outside the war. Spending time training underlings so he cannot build too much power himself. He _never_ intended them to survive long, he personally saw to that.”

Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She felt surrounded by all those negative emotions Maul felt, and only a glimmer of her own to separate his from hers. “Let’s fuck him up them.”

“…What?”

“You heard me. We are doing this- “she gestured between herself and Maul. “So, we can get rid of him. That’s not good enough, not now. We kill him and we make it _worth_ it!”

Maul’s anger turned into surprise and he turned his horned head to appraise her critically. “That is not a very Jedi thing to think.”

“Doesn’t matter what it is. He is never going to be brought to Justice, he destroyed the democratic system the delivered it. There is no way to do that, so it falls on to what we think is right. And to be honest…If killing him is the _last_ thing you want to do to him, I won’t get in your way. Well…unless it’s really depraved.”

Maul stared at her for a second and then his face split into a grim smile like he was baring his teeth. “Good” he muttered with a nod. “Very good. He will meet his end, and it will be my justice.” Maul placed his right boot against the computers dash again and leaned back with malicious content. “But I have one query that is not quite related to Sidious. You have not told me where we are going.”

Ahsoka sighed in relief that the topic had changed and eased back in her seat, unaware that she had been sitting straight as an arrow. “You failed to ask.” Ahsoka smiled at his glare and nodded to the viewing window before them. “We are going to Onderon.”

“Onderon…” Maul rolled the name around his mouth as if testing its merit. “I am aware that planet was at war against the Separatist.”

“It was a civil war” Ahsoka said and memories flashed behind her blue eyes. “And now that I know that these Partisans are on Onderon. Well, I may just know who’s leading this rebellion.”

“Do tell, are they competent?”

“More than competent Maul, I trained them” Ahsoka smiled at his eyes swivelled to her glowing with interest. “They know war, they know it well. I think you may even take a liking to the leader.” _He has to be the one leading this rebellion he would not abandon his and Steela’s home._

“And who is this person?”

“Saw Gerrera” Ahsoka glanced at the computer’s monitor, the countdown till arrival slowly ticking away. “It will be nice to see an old friend again.”

 _But I hope the Empire has not crushed you yet, Saw. I wonder what you have done after all these years…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sex joke and dated music reference haha I'm the peak of comedy where is my academy award fml.  
> meme time:  
> Maul: I'm never talking about my trauma absolutely not!  
> Ahsoka: >:(  
> Maul: It all started when I was born.  
> \------------------------------------------------------------  
> Ahsoka: Ah, time to finally sleep in a bed after weeks in a swamp :) Nothing bad can happen.  
> *Sleep paralysis demon* has entered the chat.  
> \------------------------------------------------------------


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey guys! Back with chapter 15, sorry it took so long, I've been quite busy and this chapter was a lot to wrangle with. I'm going to have to make a wall plan of what I have to write for each chapter and make sure I tie up loose ends at this point. Jesus...But enjoy! Plot has progressed, characters that we all know and love have been reintroduced. A lot of you guessed them haha. Next chapter will most likely be just as big in content, but if all goes well there is a scene I want to write that I have thought about since day 1! 
> 
> P.s. I'm also sorry I did not respond to all of the comments I got from the last chapter! I promise to do so this time, they mean the world to me!

Ahsoka removed from the cooled storage compartment another container of spiced dried meat and two of the beige protein shakes. Maul did not ask for them, but she knew he had not eaten for a long time. She walked back and offered them to him as she sat in the pilot’s seat. “Here” she said. Maul’s tattooed brows rose, and he shot Ahsoka a mild look.

“Have you been observing my dietary schedules?”

Ahsoka sighed and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “If I’m hungry, you are most likely as well.” She slouched back into her seat and gazed out the viewing window. She was in no mood for his barbed words. “It’s not like there is anything better to do” she mumbled. In truth, Ahsoka was exhausted. The dark bruises around her throat ached as she chewed the pieces of meat mechanically. And everything just seemed offset, wonky even to her. Like sand had been rubbed over her eyes. She had not slept for over forty-eight hours and for the life of her it was too uncomfortable for her to try. _Vader in my dreams trying to kill me and Maul here. I’m surrounded by Sith lords._ Even worse was that _they_ would inevitably have to sleep. And this time it would not be rotating shifts. 

“Can you tell me how long it is until we reach Onderon?” Ahsoka asked quietly.

“What is wrong with your eyes, Lady Tano?”

“I’ve just got a headache. Please.” Maul only growled in response and Ahsoka bit into another chewy strip uncaringly. 

“To sooth your _unrelenting_ curiosity” Maul began, spite dripping from his voice. “We are now 957.23 parsecs from Onderon. We will be there within the coming daily rotation.”

 _At least 13- no 14 hours,_ Ahsoka sighed heavily and nodded. She felt more than saw Maul’s eyes on her, those burning cinders would if they could peer into her soul. Perhaps the bond they shared was enough for that. “Take a picture, it lasts longer” she recited his own words mockingly as she stared out the window. She knew she probably should not antagonise him, but sometimes it was the only form of entertainment she had.

The half Sith leaned forwards in his seat and now more than ever his stare became darker, more fixed. “You are troubled.” Maybe he will not rise to the bait after all. His obvious uncaring rubbed Ahsoka raw.

“I am surprised you feel nearly being murdered in your sleep is _not_ cause to be troubled by.”

“Ah, so it is that.”

“Yes, it is that!” Ahsoka cursed and rounded on the Zabrak. “We have so much shit to think about and now I can’t even sleep without- “

“No, no, we both know you can sleep. You just do not like the manner” Maul snickered wickedly. “Do not think I have not noticed you avoiding your natural sleeping patterns on this ship. I am not the only one paying attention to schedules…”

“Force!” Ahsoka dumped the food onto the pilot’s dash and stood thunderously to her feet. “Well what the fuck do you expect me to do?! Believe me it’s not _that_ ” she glowered at the Sith whose smile had yet to disappear. “What if it doesn’t work?! And then we have Onderon to think of, I have no methods of contacting Saw, not with zero chance of the Empire finding it!”

“Not sleeping is not going to solve those problems either” Maul said and stood to his feet. “You have very real concerns for both matters. But we must address them one at a time. And if you look at that.” Maul leaned and typed into the ships computer quickly. Those bright lines of information displayed themselves on screen. “We have barely over 12 hourly rotations until we are within Onderon’s territory. We cannot analyse these _Partisans_ until we are on the planet. You know what this means.”

“Of, course I do” Ahsoka paced sourly, the bright lights of the ship making her eyes strobe. “Do not lecture me!”

“Cranky.”

“I am _concerned_ , as _you_ should be to! Vader- whoever that was did not only see me there in my mind!”

The mocking light in Maul’s eyes suddenly went dark, and he bond between them flooded with simmering anger. “You are concerned us sharing a sleeping time will not solve this problem, very well” Maul walked up to Ahsoka, his durasteel boots thudding on the ship’s floor. “I have yet to find a solution and clearly neither have you. What is wrong with taking a chance?”

“Because we have so much work to do that _I_ don’t feel comfortable tossing a bloody _credit_ over if we’re going to be murdered or not!” Ahsoka ignored the lights now and glared heatedly at the half Sith. 

Maul’s arms crossed as he looked down at Ahsoka with calculating eyes. He rolled his sharp jaw before he spoke. “You said to Yoda that you trusted me.”

Ahsoka blanched and looked awkwardly to the side. _No, now is not the time to second guess myself!_ Ahsoka looked back again, forcing a fire to match Maul’s back into her eyes. “Yes. I did.”

“Has your opinion changed?”

“No” Ahsoka bit her cheek. “It hasn’t.”

“Well I must sleep soon, and you will either sleep as well or stay awake until you die” Maul said simply and folded his arms behind his back. With a toss of his horned head he paced slowly towards the sleeping quarters. “I do not rest long. You do not have much time to pander.”

Ahsoka spluttered and gestured towards the pilot seats. “And you’re just leaving the ship?!”

“Autopilot” Maul pointed a finger to the ceiling before sliding the door open.

 _What- he wants to sleep now!_ “You can’t be serious- surely you are not tired now?!”

Maul turned back and shot her a wicked grin, his eyes glinting devilishly in the low light. “Even Sith get tired Ahsoka. Oh, and unless you are going to eat, put the food back.”

“Maul- “

“Thank you…” Maul smirked and with a twist of his fingers the door closed between them.

“Bitch!” Ahsoka hissed. She angrily clenched her fists as she waited for Maul to throw away the bait and leave the sleeping quarters. The anger and absolute resignation chafed at her head as each second passed and Maul’s horned head did not appear through the door again. _He can’t be serious!_ It was obvious that he was. “Fuck!” Ahsoka summoned the food, both meat container and protein shakes alike to her hand and marched over to the chilled draw. “Who does he think he is? He’s not the one being choked to death at night!” she whispered to herself and slammed the door shut. She muttered darkly and stormed over to the sleeping quarters where the door slid open quietly. Maul lay reclined across the bed on his side, his large hand propping up his head as his bright eyes met hers as she entered. Ahsoka gaped at him for a moment and dark anger burned in her chest at the sight of him.

“Please refrain from slamming draws or doors shut, Lady Tano. You did not pay for this fine vessel and I will not be pleased if there are damages” his deep saccharine voice said mockingly.

It was the tipping point for Ahsoka. “For the love of- Will you shut up!” Ahsoka shouted at the half Sith. Maul’s eyes went wide, his jaw dropping as he stared at her incredulously. It did not take the bond for Ahsoka to sense the anger in him. Nor the anger in her.

“What did you say?!” Maul snarled and sat up.

“No, you don’t have a right to be angry with me!” Ahsoka growled and marched up to the man. “ _I_ am the one in danger right now. I am the one that’s scared to even sleep at this point, and the fact we will be going into enemy territory?! We have so much to do and think about.” Ahsoka thrust a finger into Maul’s furious face. “The last thing I need is some smart-ass comments coming from you!” Maul said nothing but his twisted snarl pulled up like he was baring his teeth at her, as if he was some terrible beast. Maul leaned in until his face was inches away from Ahsoka’s outstretched finger.

“This was _your_ decision!” he said darkly.

“And you agreed to it” Ahsoka snapped back. A tension filled the room like a heavy cloud and not for a second did Ahsoka’s and Maul’s pride allow them to look away from each other. Ahsoka pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh and glared down her fingers to the half Sith before her. “I am _tired_ Maul. And I- “she grit her teeth until they creaked, but those golden eyes bore into her own, daring her to explain more. “I am scared.”

Maul’s furious glare frowned deeper and he rose from the bed, his durasteel legs booming on the floor. “And what…” Maul stepped forwards, closing the distance between them. “Are you afraid of?” he whispered menacingly.

“I- “Ahsoka’s words froze in her mouth. _What is it exactly?_ She thought. All the reasons in the galaxy poured through her like poison and all of them had so much reason for her to be scared. “We are alone, Maul” Ahsoka whispered. “And I don’t seem to be safe at all. I don’t know when I will be safe again…”

Maul watched her in silence, and she felt the anger within him fade as the seconds dragged on into minutes. “You fought for years in a war. You were in far more immediate danger then.”

“But I don’t have my army, I don’t have the Jedi” she said. Maul’s eyes burned brighter, and she felt so exhausted looking into them now. “It’s just one uncertainty after another.”

“I stopped that black thing from killing you before. It can be stopped again.”

 _Are you saying you will protect me?_ _No. That would be irresponsible to expect, friend or not._ “But wouldn’t it be nice if I did not have someone stalking me in my dreams?” Ahsoka sneered and crossed her arms. “Just because I have a friend does not remove the threat altogether.”

“Hm” Maul grumbled and stepped to her side. “You are right. I…” Maul rolled his shoulders as he chewed his words like a moody cow. “I understand. When Sidious tried to take my mind there was no sense of safety even with you aware of the issue. To be frank I am surprised Sidious has not attempted it since. It is more than likely that sometime in the foreseeable future I must face such an issue again. But you must be aware that there is no alternative.”

“And here I was trying to convince you of this plan” Ahsoka smiled wearily. Maul returned the tired look without the smile.

“Oh, I still do not like this at all. But I would rather this than falling into the hands of our enemies.”

Ahsoka breathed deeply through her nose and splayed out her hands as if to release the knot of anger that had built in her chest. “I have never been so uncertain to go to sleep before…”

“…Let me tell you something Lady Tano” Maul said in his deep baritone voice. He gestured to the bed and moved himself to the wall calmly. “Do not be uncertain tonight. Go on, go to sleep. You will find no assassins in your mind.”

Ahsoka felt the muscle in her chest pull and a warm feeling seeped over her. She admired Maul from the corner of her eye. She often did not require such reassurance, but it was nice to have them anyway. Even from Maul. “Alright, well…How do we do this?”

Maul sunk down the side of the wall, one of his great steel legs stretched out as he tried to get comfortable. “Lie down, close your eyes. We remain in contact with each other, I see no other method.”

“Neither do I” Ahsoka staggered to the bed and sat on the thin mattress. “Oh…” she shuffled her shoulders. “Do- do you want the bed?”

“ _No_ , that is why I am sleeping here” Maul rolled his eyes. “I swear if you make this anymore uncomfortable than it is- “

“No, don’t mind me” Ahsoka lay down and cast her black cloak over her legs. “But if you complain about not having it, I don’t want to hear it.”

“How kind” he flicked his wrist and Ahsoka heard a dull click from the wall and all the lights went out. “Now shut up” Maul mocked the weary half Jedi.

“You fucking shut up” Ahsoka snarked back.

“You are the one who is- “

“Nope. Quiet time now” Ahsoka couldn’t stop her grin as Maul swore something unintelligible but undoubtably rude. Silence ran through the dark room and it took Ahsoka some mental strength to not let her eyes cast out for his form. Ahsoka shifted onto her side, her back facing him as if to remove that option. _We have camped on Dagobah, this is not so different._ But there was a difference. There was a choice involved here. She just did not like to think about it. Closing her eyes, Ahsoka drifted her consciousness over the bond within her mind. A pair of eyes accepted the invitation and crept into the back of her mind where they glowed like fires. Her stomach clenched anxiously as she looked into them. It was so unusual to communicate through the bond when both were by themselves and very close to each other. _“How do we sleep like this?”_ Ahsoka asked. 

_“How am I supposed to know?”_

Ahsoka sighed audibly and shook her head. _Guess I’ll try to ignore him,_ she thought. Perhaps Maul had the same idea. Time passed and after a while the bright eyes in the back of her head dimmed the colour, changing it from gold to a washed-out bronze. She felt Maul’s consciousness fade with it. The soothing sensation often broken by his restless and paranoid spirit, but minute by minute he was slowly dragged into the blackness of sleep. It felt like a black hole. The gravity of Maul’s deadened presence drew Ahsoka with him into its depth. She struggled against it for a second, wary that their minds could join once more like on Dagobah. Or worse their minds will completely separate all together and she would be helpless. _Trust it..._ She thought. _Trust him…_ The blackness of sleep dragged Ahsoka under with the half Sith. Ahsoka could not remember the last time she slept so well. The darkness that swallowed her was as comforting as the cloak draped across her legs. It filled the space within her mind like a safety buffer. Subconsciously, Ahsoka noticed something else. A warm presence within her mind, like a thought or a feeling was by her side in her sleep. She was asleep and so she could not remember or consider what this was or more importantly _who_ it was. But she was drawn to it, like blind person seeking a hand in the dark. As the two companions slept, their minds leaned into each other’s and no thing and no one could disturb them for hours to come.

In the darkness a sharp noise abruptly pierced through the veil of sleep concisely and Ahsoka jolted in the bed with a start. “What…?” she yawned, her jaw clicking uncomfortably as she glanced around the room. A monitor on the wall above the bed was active with the following message displayed: **Four hours until arrival.** _We have been asleep that long?_ She thought incredulously. _No, but Maul would’ve woken up…_ As she thought about him, she realised his phantom eyes were no longer lingering in the back of her mind. The two of them had released the bond when Ahsoka had awakened. Edging her body over the bed Ahsoka peered in the dark at the wall by the door and slowly made out a figure. His large arms were folded across his chest, his shoulder cradling his head in what looked like the most uncomfortable sleeping position available. _He’s still asleep?_ Ahsoka thought. She had never seen him asleep, he always woke before her or seldom slept at all. But now…

A guilty curiosity possessed her, and she silently stood up, her socked feet making no noise as they padded on the ground. Her cloak was bunched uneasily in one hand as she approached the half Sith, her teeth gritted in concentration to not make a noise. She was barely a meter away when she stopped and looked down on his face. In that dim light it was difficult to distinguish the red of his skin from the black tattoos. Silent breaths puffed through his sharp nose, but even in sleep he was not truly peaceful. Pensive and angry lines still drew in his brow and he muttered some strange thing in Dathomirian under his breath. _Are you okay?_ Ahsoka thought. She touched the bond briefly in the back of her mind and winced as she felt anxiety twisting within him and a burning touch of anger. _Oh, is it a nightmare?_ She did not realise she had crouched before him until her knee brushed the ground. Her stomach shifted nervously as she swept her eyes over his face again and wondered what to do. She wasn’t sure what compelled her to do it, but Ahsoka let her hand rise and softly ran the tips of her fingers across the back of his tattooed hand. They lingered far longer than she expected, the sensitive pads at the tips of her fingers danced across the ink around his knuckles. Her stomach fluttered like a thousand butterflies as she very briefly felt his smooth skin. It was warm, just like his face was on Dagobah…

Ahsoka snatched her hand back, frightened by the feeling. “Fuck” she whispered and rose to her feet, nearly stumbling in her haste to get away from him. “I- “Her heart thrummed in her chest, drumming a beat for the butterflies in her stomach to dance to. She did not like it. Whatever this cursed was she knew she did not like it. Carefully, Ahsoka stepped around him and opened the door before darting out and immediately closing it. It slid shut with a barely audible hiss and the half Jedi rested her head against the door. Breath whistled in her nose as she heaved her chest slowly, forcing her heart to rest. _It’s…It’s to be expected. We share the Force bond after all_. Was what she told herself. She forced herself away from the door, forced herself to remember her duties to the most banal things. _He must be dreaming of Lotho Minor or…_ Ahsoka trailed off as she blinked and found herself seated on the rigid and uncomfortable pilot’s seat before the viewing window. “Or anything else. Sidious…Whatever.” She shook her head decisively and removed that train of thought from her mind. It was not a healthy topic to brood on. And even though her thoughts were her own, she doubted that Maul would appreciate her creating scenarios of his past.

The bright blue and white streaks of stars blurred past the ship and Ahsoka became lost in thought within their depths. _It worked, using the bond in our sleep worked. And I did not have to go in his mind. And he wasn’t in mine!_ A thrill of relief washed through her and Ahsoka rubbed the ring of bruises around her throat with a smile. _This is not going to happen again!_ The bond in the back of her mind twitched and Ahsoka’s smile jolted on her face as fear and anger burned from Maul’s mind into her own. She felt more than heard him awake at the back of the ship. She sensed him feel discombobulated and anxious but all too soon those emotions drew back into borderline anger. The door behind her opened and those familiar heavy footsteps drummed on the ground towards. Ahsoka glanced in the viewing window and bit her lip at the burning glare painted across Maul’s reflection. It was hard to remember that he looked so vulnerable in his sleep.

“You did not wake me!” He snarled and strode to her side. “How long was I asleep?!”

Ahsoka went to say that he should not worry, but quickly realised that may only worsen his mood. “I just woke up around ten or twenty minutes ago” she raised her hand in peace. “We are just over three hourly rotations from Onderon.”

“ _Three_ hourly-!” Maul exclaimed in anger, his hands now fists by his sides. “I did _not_ wish to rest that long!”

“Neither did I, I am just as surprised as you. I didn’t wake you- “Ahsoka began quickly as she felt his ire peak again. “Because you seemed to need your rest.” It was not a lie, but not the exact truth. She honestly did not know what would happen if she woke him, especially with those damn butterflies in her stomach.

“Need my rest?!” Maul growled and dropped himself into the co-pilot’s chair. His fingers creaked as he squeezed them tighter. “I do not need to rest _that_ long!”

“Yes, well…” Ahsoka adjusted her grip on the ships steering handles. “Who knows how much rest we will get on Onderon?”

“If Saw is still your ally then we would not need to worry so much about that!”

“…The bond worked” Ahsoka said to change the topic.

“What?”

“I did not get anymore Force dreams” the half Jedi gestured to her throat. “No Sith Lord trying to kill me.”

“Hm, not yet” Maul scowled and rested his chin on those hands of his.

“Excuse me?” Ahsoka glared and Maul only rolled his eyes in response.

“All very well that your little experiment worked. I still wish to find an alternate method.”

Ahsoka sighed and flicked her wrist idly. A canister filled with water drifted from a spot in the wall and into her hand. “Once we are safe on Onderon and have free time, then sure.”

Maul nodded and vaguely tapped on the data pad before him. He checked the time, the relative position of Onderon within its solar system and then checked for the nearest republic base, newly reworked for the empire. All of this, Ahsoka watched between her sips of water and the coolness of the liquid sat in her stomach heavily. Time ticked by and eventually Maul started asking questions in a hard and cold voice. It would have annoyed Ahsoka if it were not for the contents. Was there any Clone Troopers on Onderon before order 66? If so, how many? Where would an army most likely set up a base? Is there likely to be an imperial blockade around the planet? Some questions Ahsoka could give half answers or educated guesses, others she had no idea.

“It’s been years since I was last on Onderon. And I have not been a commander for the Clone army for a few years as well. It’s not that I would have no idea, but so many things could have changed since the time I’ve been gone.”

Maul tapped his fingers against his jaw and nodded, though his eyes brewed with a thousand thoughts and questions. The anger ebbing from him made the bond in her mind writhe uncomfortably. “This is a very large risk we are taking” he muttered more to himself. “If there is a blockade around the planet, which there most likely is, then we will be competing with a seasoned army and more by ourselves. And this ship does not have weapons…And if they find out who we are, then Sidious may find us before it is time.”

Those final words set a sick coat of dread in Ahsoka’s stomach and she sub-consciously touched the saber by her side. “I won’t let that happen.”

Maul suddenly laughed, his deep voice jumping manically around the room and his sun-burst eyes met hers, filled with fake mirth. “I do not believe you have much choice, Lady Tano.” 

“Not if I can help it” Ahsoka shook her head and swallowed the dread within her. “Look, let’s not think about that. I will not even consider that happening because it _won’t_! I will not allow it.”

“You do not know that.”

“Well what I do know is this. Don’t worry about us getting on the planet, okay? Many times- far too many times me and Anakin had to infiltrate enemy lines right under the Separatist’s noses. I have suffered worse odds than this. They won’t be expecting us.”

The burning in Maul’s eyes and in the bond faded at her words and he resigned more within his seat. Though still she could near sense those thoughts that still lingered behind those golden eyes. “Of course. Of course…”

“And besides…” Ahsoka smiled and her eyes met his through the reflection within the viewing window. “I’m sure a _half_ Jedi and _half_ Sith can more than handle this.”

Maul snorted and leisurely took the water canister Ahsoka had left on the dash. “So it would seem…” He touched the bottle to his lips and Ahsoka watched out of the corner of her eye as his throat bobbed with each sip of the recycled water. She eyed the bottle and her chest squeezed tight as she realised his lips were exactly where hers were. Maul looked so… Her cheeks flushed hot and she forced her eyes back on the view before her. _Stop it!_ She scolded herself.

The hours dwindled away one by one quickly, far too quickly for Ahsoka’s nerves. Say what she will about experience, nothing can calm nerves when you are plunging into the nest of Rathtars with no sense of what’s around the corner. On the computer’s monitor that squarely in the centre of the controls, a time 120 seconds appeared on the screen and then the countdown began with a hardly audible beep. “Two minutes” Ahsoka flexed her fingers on the controls.

Maul took his long saber staff from his side and sat it on his lap, his fingers curling and uncurling over the grip with each second that passed. _3…2…1-_ The streaks of stars blurred into a sheet of blinding white light. The hull of the ship groaned under the velocity and pressure that grated against the tough durasteel frame making the seats vibrate and jitter beneath Ahsoka and Maul. The bright white light glowed all the brighter for a fraction of a second and then a loud band rung through Ahsoka’s montrals as the ship exit hyperspace. Ahsoka gaped at the site before her and barely registered the curse Maul swore as he leaped to his feet. A large planet swathed in greens and blues of dangerous jungles and vicious seas was surrounded by two types of things. Four moons, three large and pale purple in colour orbiting the planet closely and a singular smaller one, a bright glowing white sitting further away. But that was not the pair’s cause of fear. _I knew there would be troopers…But fuck not this many!_ Five monolithic Star Destroyers sat idle around the planet, one on each pole and axis. They looked different to the Star Destroyers Ahsoka commanded as a Padawan. These were deathly white and greater, far greater in size than she had ever seen. With each ship there was a mini armada of strange little fighter ships she had never seen before. A sphere capsule in the middle flanked with dark hexagon panel like wings. Even from there distance she could clearly see how fast and agile they moved.

“What the fuck is happening?!” Ahsoka whispered into the morbid silence.

Maul snarled at the ships and his burning eyes turned to Ahsoka for a second time. “I thought you said this was a simple rebellion!”

“It is- was!”

“Then what in the name of the fucking Force is five- five damnable Star Destroyers doing here for one fucking planet?!” 

“There shouldn’t be this many” Ahsoka whispered, her fingers trembling on the steering handles. “I knew- I knew there had to be one, maybe two Destroyers but not five!”

“That explains nothing.”

“Palpatine- Palpatine was playing both sides. Republic and Separatists. When he dissolved the Republic for the Empire, he must have ceased control of both armies. That’s- that’s the only way I see him wasting five Destroyers here!”

“No- This is futile. There is no way we can slip past those defences, not with only one Nimoidian ship!”

 _We don’t have much time before those Destroyers notice us. We have to get on world now or leave, and quickly!_ Ahsoka scanned her eyes over the navigation screen next to the monitor. There was five green blips on the radar surrounding the planet and tight bunches of tiny dots surrounding each. _The Destroyers and the fighters. But if there is…_ On the southern hemisphere of Onderon facing the sun, there was a thin chain of dots, smaller than the destroyers but larger than the fighters. They were slowly exiting space and entering the atmosphere through a huge ring with a plasma field by the looks of it. The space gate. Ahsoka’s eyes narrowed in on them and activated the icons on the radar. Her heart thudded in her chest as a long data log of the various ships before her appeared on the screen. “Wait, look at this” Ahsoka gasped and pointed to the chain. “These are not army ships. They are merchant ones!”

Maul’s eyes narrowed and he leaned in over Ahsoka’s chair to peer at the screen. “Is that a convoy for the Empire’s own army?”

“It could be it’s true. But back when I was a Padawan, the Republic and Separatists were adamant on keeping good relations with the banking clan.” _Even though they were corrupt and vile!_ She sneered and remembered the disgusting Clovis and what he did to Padme. She wondered what had become of him for a moment. “If those relations are still important to the Senate- no to Sidious then trade is being allowed to happen on a Rebellion planet” she continued.

“This is not a normal planet! And why would he allow open trade with his enemy? He is not compassionate by any means.”

“When I worked with Saw, the militia group he headed -now the Partisans- were working against the government. It is likely the government has resorted to working with the Empire and Saw is in open rebellion again. This is what I think we should do- “Ahsoka traced down the monitor until a single and massive ship was displayed on screen. “We are small, tiny even. This ship here, at the back of the convoy” Ahsoka pointed to the last dot on the radar. “It’s huge. A baleen class heavy freighter. We could easily hide against it without being detected. If we are lucky, that ship won’t even notice us once we are within the atmosphere!”

Maul glared at the data log and gestured wildly to the viewing screen around them. “And how do you propose we even get close? Do you not see those Destroyers and fighters?!”

Ahsoka turned back to the controls before her and calmly buckled the safety belt over her chest and waist. “With luck” she whispered determinedly.

“You cannot be serious!”

“I am!” Ahsoka reached behind and grabbed Maul by the forearm before she shoved him towards the co-pilots chair. “Now sit down!” Maul snarled and gripped the head rest of the chair. Anger flowed between the bond they shared but Ahsoka met his stare unflinchingly. “I’m not backing down now because things look tough. I expected the same from you!”

“Oh, do not think being cautious is the same as being a coward, Lady Tano!” Maul sneered and stiffly sat himself in his seat. He even begrudgingly buckled on the safety belt. “But if this reckless, fallible plan does not work-!”

“I get the picture” Ahsoka began to press buttons on the control panel. All non-essential outputs within the ship turned off. The refresher system, cooling cabinet, lights, water cycling, even the hyper drive. All Ahsoka left on was the auxiliary thrusters and life support. _There…It will be harder to detect our ship’s signature._ It was not a sure-fire method, especially when travelling through a space gate, but it would have to do. “Here goes nothing…”

Maul spat something in Dathomirian and drew his saber staff across his lap once again. Ahsoka made a vague mental note to try and learn Dathomirian so she could have a clue what he was saying. The silence of space and within the ship made everything else seem so much more extreme. The ship gently drifted closer and those gargantuan Star Destroyers loomed closer and closer with each passing minute. The ship banked to the starboard side and drifted towards the southern side of the planet, less than one AU from the space gate. Even from there isolated spot, Ahsoka’s keen eyes made out the blue shimmer of the plasma shield. More importantly her eyes set on the heavy freighter. A tiny dot on the horizon. She sensed Maul tense in the corner of her eyes and briefly she caught sight of a faction of fighter ships spill out the side of the nearest Star Destroyer.

“Ahsoka!” Maul hissed between gritted teeth.

“I know” Ahsoka whispered back, even if no one could hear them. “We have to go _slowly_. They don’t know we are here.” The light reflected off the ships, moons, sun and planet made those strange fighters glint against the unchanging blackness of space. They edged in closer and closer and all to quickly Ahsoka’s battle hardened nerves shook slightly. Slowly she reached forward and hovered her hand over the emergency hyper drive, cold sweat pooling down her back. “Turn around, turn around, turn around…” she barely whispered. Maul leaned in and typed some coordinates on the emergency hyper drive, ready to be active at Ahsoka’s touch. “Turn around…”

As if some deity or even the Force heard her prayer the group of fighters banked down and circled back towards the nearest moon floating far in the distance. Ahsoka gasped a breath of relief, and chuckled weakly in the dim ship. Maul’s deep voice soon joined hers and Ahsoka turned to watch as the half Sith released a tight grip on his staff and relaxed back in his seat. “See” Ahsoka smiled as his golden eyes -the only real colour in the ship- looked into hers, bright with relief. “Told you it would be okay.”

“Unfortunately, we are not even halfway there” Maul sighed but the edge of his mouth quirked upwards slightly.

 _One step at a time,_ Ahsoka thought and placed a fraction more pressure on the auxiliary thruster’s power. Three times more did a swarm of fighters pour out of different Star Destroyers. Each time the silence within the ship grew dark and colder. It did not take the bond for Ahsoka or Maul to sense one and another’s stress. Each time Ahsoka carefully brought the ship to a full stop, or worse, she had to risk edging away from them to avoid being detected by their radars.

“Why have the Destroyer’s not detected us?” Maul hissed after the last near scrape.

“I don’t know” Ahsoka whispered back. “They may be looking for specific ships. Or ships coming off world. It works for us for now.”

Progress was made, all be it slowly. After hiding behind the bulk of one of those large moons, the ship crested the side as before them floated the convoy chain of merchant ships and the dangerous space gate. The gate’s great plasma shield shimmered blues and whites like a calm ocean, only to wink out of exist for a handful of crucial seconds as merchant ships or warships slipped through the gate’s ring. And there at the very end of the convoy was their destination. The massive freighter ship lumbering slowly through space. One tiny fraction of it was enough to completely conceal the small Nimoidian ship…If no one looked beneath it.

“Careful… _Careful_!” the half Sith tensed in his seat as Ahsoka quickened their pace towards it.

“I have this under control!” Ahsoka snapped back. The bulkhead of the ship loomed before them in a mass of overlapping durasteel plates and ports. Every now and then a chain of lights flickered up its sides as it drifted slowly towards the ship in front of it. Ahsoka tilted the controls and over the last few thousand meters, the Nimoidian ship slipped lower and lower until it hovered below the level of the same bulkhead. _Last part._ She bit her lip as she squeezed in a fraction more strength and the ship picked up speed as it slunk beneath the freighter above them. They made it. A groan of relief escaped Ahsoka’s lips as she dropped her head and slumped in her seat.

“I did it!” a triumphant grin spread across the half Jedi’s face. Maul sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose with eyes squeezed shut.

“Thank the Son and the Daughter” he growled beneath his breath.

“Hey, technically I am the Daughter” Ahsoka’s grin broadened as Maul’s bright eyes opened and regarded her with an air of curiousness and amusement.

“I still have trouble getting to terms with that” he said. “You have to tell me about all of it one day.”

“It’s a long story, but yeah, I will” Ahsoka turned back to the window with her smile still spread across her face. Of course that relief was short lived. Almost as her eyes locked with the viewing screen, the incomprehensibly gargantuan mass of the freighter jolted into life above her. Almost fumbling with the controls, Ahsoka drifted the small ship so close only a handful of meters separated the massive one from the small. For one hour the pair drifted through space in near silence as the inched closer and closer to the space gate. When those shimmering lights of the plasma gate winked beneath them did the sweat begin to pool down Ahsoka’s back. _This is where they could catch us…_ She was scared that she would look up and see her boys- her clones staring at her in those strange little fighter ships before gunning them both down. She was scared she would hear the communicator on the ship crackle into life, and her boys would order their arrest. Part of her was scared that it would be Rex. _And if it is Rex, what then?_

“Ahsoka” Maul’s rich voice jolted her from her thoughts.

“What?” Ahsoka glanced at the Sith who was staring at her behind a deep frown.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes of course. We are nearly there.”

“Then why are you scared?” Maul’s deep voice said.

“I am _tense_ ” Ahsoka growled as she flared her fingers around the controls. She could sense Maul’s discontent for her answer, and she could feel his eyes watch her critically as she focused on the space gate before her. “We are nearly there” she repeated more to herself. Minutes trickled by each second feeling longer than it had any right to. But suddenly the freighter above her kicked into life, the power of their thrusters making the small ship rattle and vibrate. The plasma shields of the space gate glimmered one second longer before winking out of existence as the freighter arced towards it. “Here we go” she hissed and pushed the ship forwards. The freighter above her angled down and Ahsoka barely responded in time to stop them from being crushed by the bulkhead and then they dove. Through the shields and the black ring of machinery, Ahsoka felt the sweat on her back grow icy cold as thy dropped through it slowly. She knew that if anything were to happen now, their ship would be utterly destroyed with them in it. She heard Maul shift his grip on his saber staff and knew he was aware of that also. But then, before she knew it, they had cleared the space gate and all that lay beneath them was the blue haze of Onderon’s atmosphere.

“Quickly, turn on all power!” Ahsoka demanded, but Maul was already activating the power supplies. The lights and preliminary thrusters roared into life and before anyone could breath, Ahsoka flushed the thrusters to max. The ship leaped forwards and raced into the atmosphere and away from the freighter above them. Alarms blared and echoed through the cockpit as the hull of the ship burned bright red and flames licked the edges of the viewing screen.

“Force, slow down!” Maul roared and gripped the edge of his seat. The whole cockpit began to shake violently, and the very air began to heat.

“If we do, they will catch us!” Ahsoka shouted and pointed to the radar on her screen. Those small dots around the Star Destroyers were swarming around their ships and the space gate as soon as they descended. They _knew_ something else had slipped in the space gate. If Ahsoka slowed down even for a second, they would be caught.

“The ship will be destroyed and then we will have no way off planet! Ahsoka!” Maul swore tried to rip off his safety belt, but it would not budge. “Do you wish to strand us here?!”

Ahsoka grit her teeth in determination and plunged the controls down and the ship flashed deeper into the atmosphere. “We will be fine!”

“I beg to differ!”

“Then _beg_!”

Maul snarled in outrage but Ahsoka ignored it all as she crested the small ship towards the vague outline of a peninsula on the largest continent of Onderon. A screaming howl roared in Ahsoka montrals as they crossed the sound barrier with an ear breaking bang. And then they were through. The Nimoidian ship went from hot yellow, to red and finally an ashen grey as the plunge from space to atmosphere levelled out and they raced through open skies and clouds. But it was not over. Sparing no time to celebrate, to search the area thoroughly for Saw, Ahsoka angled the ship to the edge of that peninsula, right on the continents edge. _That was the last place Saw was camped when I was here last. He won’t be there now, but it’s a start!_

“ _Where_ are you taking us?” Maul asked tightly.

“The jungle” Ahsoka muttered.

“And here I was thinking you had enough of overgrown trees and swamps” Maul snarked and ripped off his safety belt.

“It’s where Saw was last camped. We will hopefully be able to find where he is now from there.”

“And if we do not?”

“One step _at a time_ ” Ahsoka shot him a dark look and slowed the ships descent as the dark green mass that was the jungle focused into distinguished vegetation. She could even see waves and currents on the vast oceans. She heard Maul sigh deeply and the bond within her mind tugged with a strange dark emotion. She glanced over her shoulder to see him. Maul was sifting through their backpack and efficiently restocked it with medical supplies, food and other necessities. His face was tight and troubled, those strange tattoos etching even sharper looks around his eyes and mouth. “What are you think about?” Ahsoka asked.

“…I do not have a good feeling about this” the half Sith muttered and roughly shoved Ahsoka’s meat container into the bag.

“We just made it through an armada without being caught” Ahsoka began and lowered the ship below the tree line onto the edge of a cliff hanging over the ocean. “That is a good sign! The Force is with us.”

“And since when has the Force treated us kindly, Lady Tano?” Maul walked back over with the pack shouldered. His words sank into Ahsoka’s mind and it sewed a tiny kernel of unease within her, so small it was nearly not there. But it was there all the same.

“I have faith” she muttered as the ship thudded on the solid ground, hidden once again by the towering eves of jungle trees. “Things…Things have to look up eventually” Ahsoka turned to Maul who gazed out the window with twitching eyes.

“Is that one of those Jedi teachings? Out of all of those I am surprised that one has yet to fail you” Maul’s hard eyes softened as Ahsoka’s face fell crestfallen for a fraction of a second. “…Though you have trained this Gerrera personally is a commendable sign. Forgive my doubts. The Force may well be in our favour here, Lady” he said almost gently.

“There is a lot failing…out there, isn’t there?” Ahsoka stood from her chair and gazed into Maul’s face. “But there is some good. The Force gave us this bond we share. I am trying to see it as an asset. No, a gift” she felt her stomach tingle as Maul’s eyes opened slightly wider and flickered around her face. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw his strong, yet elegant hand move towards her, his long fingers lifting as if to reach…But no, he pulled them back just as quickly. She would just have to reach out slightly to touch them. Her stomach tingled more at how tempting it was. “But let me be hopeful.”

“…Show me where we are going then” Maul stepped away from her. Disappointment killed those little butterflies in her stomach as his eyes looked pointedly away and adjusted the grip on the backpack. She hated it, she hated that she was disappointed. She loathed it so much a snarl bared her teeth making Maul glance at her uncomfortably.

“Let me get my cloak” she muttered and stepped around the half Sith nimbly. She felt his eyes on her back as she left the cockpit and ignored them with a sneer. _Those feelings…They are far too common and-_ As she tugged on her boots, a sudden thought flashed through her mind and her heart dropped to her stomach. _Can he sense what I…? It’s nothing, he can’t because there is_ no _feeling! He is a_ friend, _and barely one at that. It’s no matter!_ Despite this she felt Maul’s confusing emotions grow restless through the bond as her anger burned hotter and hotter. By the time she emerged, in her boots and cloak, Maul had already deactivated the ship and lowered the bay door, a dark silhouette on a field of bright sunshine. His eyes flickered to her warily as if expecting her to draw her saber and skewer him, but his face was firm and unyielding. Just like his emotions it would seem.

They both slipped off the ship and sealed it away for the second time beneath a coat of foliage and debris to blend. Simmering on her anger, Ahsoka glanced to the sky and watched the vague impressions of the Star Destroyers orbit the planet, now tiny shapes in the blue of the horizon. It made her more uneasy. “When we leave, because we will have to one day” Maul said behind her. “We best make sure those are no longer there.”

“Yes but wouldn’t that require some faith?” she snapped and turned to the jungle. Maul’s anger flared across the bond and _that_ made her smile. “Come on.”

The pair slunk into the depths of the jungle in a tense silence, the only times they spoke to one and another was to select a direction to choose. Maul said they should look for a transmission they could catch from their commlinks, but Ahsoka refused. She wanted to see what they could see first and _then_ listen. By the scream of warships flying across the horizon, it wouldn’t take much to find something. The walked for hours over rivers and fallen jungle trees, and more often did Ahsoka begin to recognise the types of plants and trees she once saw when she was here all those years ago. Tall trees with thin trunk and long arms, sprouting thousands of huge leathery purple leaves. Creeping vines laying like lace over anything it could touch, sporting huge open face flowers or reds and yellows. And life, so much _visible_ and dangerous life thrived around the jungle. Twice, Ahsoka had to slap away huge, winged insects the length of her hand, armed with inch long stingers and sharp proboscises seeking out her blood. They hovered around the flowers or even rested on them, as they kicked up pollen and nectar. Maul fared no better, and Ahsoka began to think the two of them may be popular with the creatures due to their colourful skin…

“You should cover up” Ahsoka grumbled and flicked her cowl up to hide the blue on her montrals and the orange of her skin.

“Believe me I would if _someone_ did not commandeer my own cloak!” Maul shot her a glare and strode in front of her.

“You never asked for it back…” Ahsoka mumbled and hoped the shadows of her cowl hid her blush adequately.

They slipped around the bend of a tree and the nape of Ahsoka’s neck tingled. It was distant but something…No someone was stalking them. Ahsoka glanced over her shoulder cautiously but saw nothing out of the ordinary. _Let them think I haven’t noticed them._ Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Maul pause mid step and throw a glance over his shoulder. _So he has felt their presence too…_ Ahsoka continued to walk calmly but as she passed Maul, she quietly tapped her saber. Maul grunted in response and loosened the strap holding his staff. Whoever it was, was too far away to discern. _We have to wait for them to get in closer…_

Time passed on more quickly as the sun began to set in beautiful palette of purples, reds and the touch of hot yellow that was the sun. Ahsoka could not help but stop for a second and admire it. Two of the four moons were visible that night, and they glowed close to the sky like great guardians looking down on their charge. It rekindled that little hope in Ahsoka’s heart that Maul nearly crushed. _Perhaps I should cut him some slack…_ “It is similar to Dagobah” Ahsoka nodded to the jungle as she broke the uncomfortable silence. Maul stepped to her side, his eyes glowing even brighter in the sunset. “The trees, water, even the damn humidity. But you’ve got to admit, the views are much nicer.”

“Hm, you are right” Maul sighed. “There is not a strange Jedi master with a speech impediment harassing us.”

Ahsoka snorted at the cruel joke and immediately felt ashamed. For all his flaws master Yoda did not deserve his speech impediment to be made the butt of the joke. Maul heard her laugh and the corner of his lip twitched upwards for a second. “How far are we now?” he asked.

“Close” Ahsoka assured. “I’d say we are a few clicks south of the old camp.”

“…And our shadow?” Maul whispered.

“Close” Ahsoka murmured back. Her eyes roamed the terrain around them and assessed the small space for combat, the vines in the trees and the deep shadows that hid holes and potentially traps. “Your staff is too big for here” she said.

“Only if you use both sides.”

Suddenly the nape of Ahsoka neck tingled and her hand reached to her saber as she _felt_ something move behind her. From the shadows, she felt a Force signature. It was dark and elegant, like a black little heartbeat. A heartbeat she recognised. “Maul…”

“I feel it” he hissed back and Ahsoka watched as he unclipped his long saber staff. “…I recognise this signature. I have met them before.”

“I recognise them too.” Ahsoka and Maul shared a look charged with tension. _How do we both know whoever is coming…_ The half Jedi turned fully, and Maul stepped behind her, guarding her back. Closer and closer it came, until out of the corner of her eye Ahsoka saw a tall and hooded figure step through the shadow of a huge tree. _Could that be…_ Suddenly two things sprang into the figure’s hand. A crackle pierced through the cacophony of the jungle and not one, but two red beams of light blossomed into life. The shadow twisted their wrists and the dual sabers started to swish back and forth within their hands. 

_Sith weapons!_ In that moment, all Ahsoka could see was her Anakin with sickly yellow eyes. A blade of her own roared into life in her hands, and the glow of her blue saber burned itself into the jungle floor. The shadow regarded her for a second, those swinging blades settling low and ready when Maul and Ahsoka struck. The bond between them flared, Ahsoka’s anger and Maul’s blood lust bringing them in sync. They darted left and right, and soon a new red glow mixed with the half Jedi’s blue. Ahsoka brought her saber down on her opponents head while a single red blade from Maul’s staff swiped at the shadow’s legs with concise blows. It was no dance, not like on Dagobah. It felt like a hunt. The shadow gasped and managed to leap away from both, those two red blades gracefully turning in the air as the enemy flipped high and landed on a tree. Snarling like an animal, Ahsoka flung herself into the air and brought down a flurry of attacks on the person. Their sabers met and squealed in revolt, and through the bond she felt Maul wait darkly for his moment to strike. Ahsoka met the red blades with her own blue each second that passed. The assassin hammered away at her, and though the half Jedi’s wrist began to ache she never gave up ground. The figure muttered a curse and thrust her saber straight for Ahsoka’s chest, but she knocked it aside like it was a small gnat. She felt Maul’s pleasure at witnessing their fight and her appetite for a challenge grew and grew.

“Who are you?!” Ahsoka roared. The figure hissed and tried to leap away. The half Jedi snatched at the figure’s gloved hand and ripped them towards her again. Ahsoka pivoted and slammed her elbow into the centre of the cowl and was rewarded with a sickening crunch then a howl of pain. The figure screamed and flashed their dual sabers to Ahsoka’s ribs and face. Ahsoka narrowly avoided both and swore as she jumped to the side. She sensed Maul’s anticipation spike as she moved. His dark form leaped to where Ahsoka was and the unignited end of his saber staff slammed into the shadow’s gut, doubling them over in pain. He swung his cybernetic leg up and kicked the person across the knees. Ahsoka watched as the person yelped and fell face first off, the tree to land on the hard ground with a meaty thud. Not needing to say anything, Ahsoka and Maul jumped down and pounced upon the assassin. Ahsoka kicked away the two red sabers out of those hands and the red blades fell away with a hiss.

“It seems we have attracted a little assassin” Maul growled and pressed his heavy durasteel boot onto the assassins stomach. The shadow gurgled painfully, but then, their shoulders began to shake, and their painful gasped morphed into spiteful laughter. Their voice was feminine yet deep…And familiar. Maul’s eyes flickered up to Ahsoka questioningly. 

“Talk!” Ahsoka lowered her saber before the cowled face. “Talk or I will let my friend gut you.”

“Oh my” a sultry voice oozed. “I would know your Force signature _anywhere_ Tano. But Darth Maul, your _friend_?! How the mighty have fallen…”

A chill ran down Ahsoka’s spine. “Ventress?!” Ahsoka gasped. The figure chuckled mockingly and Ahsoka’s heart dropped to her stomach like an anchor. It was _her_ laugh, no doubt about it. Despite this, the half Jedi reached down and snatched the cowl off the Sith assassin’s head, revealing the bald and beautiful face of Asajj Ventress.

“Oh don’t look so surprised, darling. Did you think I would just disappear into the galaxy, never to be seen again after all is said and done?” Ventress gnashed at her, revealing bloodied teeth as if a warning. “I am more astonished that _you_ have survived!”

“What is this bitch doing here?!” Maul suddenly roared and crushed his boot into Ventress’ stomach. She groaned in pain but Ahsoka could only stare at the former Sith assassin’s bloodied face. _Her nose is broken,_ she thought.

“Bitch?” Ventress moaned, her face twisted in pain. “That’s rich coming from Savage’s brother. He was always a weak-minded little bastard- “

Pure rage burned through the bond shared between their minds. Flinching, Ahsoka staggered away, hoping distance would stop it all, and yet it only grew worse. Ventress shrieked in pain as Maul ground his boot even harder into the woman’s unprotected stomach. “Maul- “Ahsoka began.

“Speak my brother’s name again and I _will_ slice away every inch of you until you are nothing better than meat for the maggots!” Maul growled darkly. To Asajj’s credit, she grit her teeth against the pain and snarled in Maul’s face.

“Maul!” Ahsoka reached out and grasped the half Sith’s forearm. It shivered beneath her hand as his fist clenched tighter around the staff, the lethal red blade inching closer and closer to Ventress’ chest. The twisted rage in his face did not change for a second as his anger burned through her. Desperate, the half Jedi reached for the bond within her mind. It pulsed with rage and yet a pair of golden eyes lit up within her skull. _“Stop, we need her to talk”_ Ahsoka said.

“She deserves worse!” Maul said out loud. Ahsoka glanced at Asajj’s face, twisted in pain and stepped closer to the half Sith.

 _“She most likely does. But not now, okay?”_ Maul hissed but Ahsoka squeezed his arm gently. His bright eyes twitched between her and Ventress’ face, both the ones in her mind and the ones before her feverish with anger. _“I understand. I do.”_ Maul uttered a curse under his breath but reluctantly drew his saber away from the Sith assassin.

“You owe your life to _her_ ” Maul pulled his arm out of Ahsoka’s grip, not ungently.

Asajj’s eyes flickered between the two of them suspiciously and she cautiously sat up against Maul’s heavy boot. “And I thought you owed _me_ after that mess with the Jedi order” she spat at Ahsoka.

“What are you doing here Ventress?” Ahsoka sneered back.

“Doing more for the galaxy than either of you I gather” her eyes darted quickly between like a cornered animal that she was. “I take it you being here is no coincidence?”

 _…I should be cautious. She is a Sith…_ Ahsoka glanced at Maul who still glowered dangers into the Night sister’s face. _But I can at least trust him._ Ahsoka crouched low until her face was level with their captive. “Partisans” was all she said.

A calculating glimmer shone in Ventress’ eyes and her bloody sneer twisted into a grim smile. “Oh so you have heard” she muttered. “Well then. If you are here, let me introduce you to them.”

“Wait- “Ahsoka held out her hand but Ventress pursed her lips and an ear-splitting whistle echoed through the jungle around them.

Maul’s saber was back at her throat in an instant. “What the fuck did you just do?!” he roared.

“It’s an introduction, darling” Asajj grinned up at Maul. “You better get that saber away from me it you wish to survive it!”

As she spoke those words, great whooping cries echoed from the jungle, encored by the crashing of feet trampling the earth. People were coming and a lot of them. _An introduction with the Partisans-_ “Maul put the saber away!” Ahsoka exclaimed and hastily disengaged her own.

“Glad to see you have some sense, Tano” Asajj laughed mockingly.

“Why? If they are our enemies- “

“They are not!” Ahsoka swore and tugged at his arm. The trampling was getting closer. “She is with them! Don’t you see?!”

The half Sith’s eyes flashed with understanding but he pressed the saber slightly closer to Ventress’ chest with a warning. “I will not hesitate to _slaughter_ any man or woman that passes those trees if you harm us. And you…You I will take my time with.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time” Ventress smiled coyly but her eyes betrayed her fear.

Maul snarled but Ahsoka pulled him off Ventress’ quickly and shoved him as far away as possible. _“So much for_ observing _, Lady Tano!”_ he said between their bonds.

_“I couldn’t have possibly predicted this!”_

Maul muttered but shut off his own saber with a flourish, plunging the trio into the dim sunset’s light. Ventress clambered to her feet and with a sneer she spat a glob of blood at the ground. “How wonderful to see you have been thriving Tano.”

“I never expected to see you again” Ahsoka returned. The cries grew louder and louder, the partisans were only a few seconds away.

“Would if that were true!”

As she spoke, the first few bodies erupted from the jungle around them. Tall humans, Twi-Leks and other species alike shouted battle cries as they aimed long plasma rifles and blaster at Maul and Ahsoka’s face. Ahsoka raised her hands carefully and met each person’s eyes. They were grim, dark and cold. There was no innocence within them, and no hesitation to do what needs to be done. _Good_ , she thought. A tall human dressed in dark padded clothes stepped out of the dark his face was covered by domed helmet and visor. He aimed his wretched blaster straight at Ahsoka’s chest, but she stood tall and proud before it.

“Hands up and get away from- “he froze, his blaster jolting in his grip. “A-Ahsoka?!”

 _What? He knows me! Then he knows I am a Jedi and-_ “Who are you?” Ahsoka asked quickly.

“Lux have you met this girl before?” Ventress drawled.

“Lux!” Ahsoka gasped. 

“Light be, it is you!” The man dropped the blaster by his side and ripped off his helmet. Brown, luscious curls of hair tumbled out of his helmet and sprang around the pretty face Lux Bonteri with his doe like eyes, staring into her own in awe.

“What-“Ahsoka gaped at Lux and then Ventress who had retreated to her line of soldiers, their weapons still ready to fire. Confusion chipped away at the rock-hard composure she formed in her mind. _What is Lux-_ “What are you doing here?!” she demanded, her voice biting.

The human recoiled, a hurt look flickering across his face for a fraction of a second. “I’m fighting Ahsoka- Just like you taught us to do!” He stepped forwards to her. Ahsoka frowned as she hesitated at the contact. _The last time we saw each other was with Death Watch and…_ Her frown deepened and she stepped away quickly.

The bright eyes within her mind suddenly flared and Maul voice echoed through the bond. _“…What the fuck is happening here?!”_ he demanded.

 _“I…I don’t know”_ Ahsoka gaped at everything around her. _Is this the Partisans,_ she thought to herself.

“Ventress, Lux” she said quickly. “Where is Saw Gerrera?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys really thought I was gonna make them share a bed huh ;) God I wish they could but it wouldn't fit! Very plot heavy I know, and next chapter will be too but I have something special cooking up that I think you will all enjoy. I hope you all enjoy long chapters? Please tell me if it the plot is engaging, it really will tie in to the romance and is super important! Now, one of my favorite parts! meme time.  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Maul: *Looks at Lux for the first time*  
> Maul: "Who let the twink have a gun?"  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE IT IS CHAPTER 16! Guys I'm so sorry it has been a month, trust me this ISN'T because I'm loosing motivation its the opposite. This chapter was a real bull to wrestle with, there is 6 talking characters that are pretty much talking at the same time and two of those can have a private conversation at the same time. That and pacing and plot, yada yada yada...It was a lot, but I'm really proud of the end result! I also read every single one of yall's comments and I'm so happy with the support. I'm not gonna lie there isn't too much Maulsoka romance here, I did say last chapter there would be an exciting scene but I did have to push it to next chapter sorry :( 
> 
> Now I'm going to shut up and let you all enjoy!

The clearing was silent apart from the hum of charged blasters and insects of the jungle. Ahsoka refused to look at anyone else beyond Ventress’ silver blue eyes and Lux’s plain brown ones. Ventress was silent and calculating, though she looked at Maul more often than anything else with a bloody sneer. Lux looked more and more confused as the seconds dragged on, his mouth opening to say something and then closing as his eyes glanced between the pair standing side by side.

“Answer her question _now_!” Maul barked.

Lux and the soldiers jumped at his voice and the click of live blasters made Ahsoka’s neck prickle. She held out her hand soothingly to Maul, but his jaw was set dangerously, and his eyes flickered around the people analysing his targets. It would not take much for him to turn on that deadly staff of his.

“Neither of you two are in any position to make demands” Ventress stalked forward. She opened her hands with a red smirk and her two discarded sabers flew into her hands. Maul snarled silently and openly held his staff before him. “In fact, it is our mandate to rid ourselves of any and all potential threats. And you two are most certainly- “

“We are no threat to you” Ahsoka said quickly. Asajj’s eyes flickered to her, danger lurking in her face. “We are not a threat to any of you” she looked around the soldiers before them. Their faces were hard stone, unreadable and unyielding. They would not hesitate to kill them.

“That is debateable” Ventress continued.

“No!” Lux spoke up. He stepped before Ahsoka and Maul and turned to face his comrades. _Lux…_ Ahsoka thought and her eyes flickered between the human and Ventress uncertainly. _How are you two working together?_ She heard Maul shift his feet and Ahsoka watched him appraise Lux like a currency exchanger studies a strange coin before him. “Everyone, Ahsoka is a _Jedi_. And she- she is one of the very reasons the Partisans exist today!” he gestured to the people before him. “She is no threat!” The soldiers eyes flickered among them, steel caped boots crushing twigs as they very slightly relaxed their positions.

 _Oh, Lux…_ Ahsoka had to stop herself from groaning out loud. _Why the fuck did you tell people that?!_ Who knew who was listening. Agents of Sidious perhaps?

“She is not a Jedi, my dear boy” Ventress said. “I witnessed first-hand her expulsion. A half-baked Padawan is far from those Jedi you hold high and mighty.”

“I left _willingly_ , Ventress. You did not stay to watch that” Ahsoka spat despite herself. “And you would know that betrayal just as much as I!”

Ventress’ hard eyes narrowed dangerously. “As much as _us_ I am afraid” she nodded to Maul who snarled in defiance. “And him, Lux? Does your trust go as far as him?”

Lux hesitated and silently looked over his shoulder at the fierce Night Brother. Maul locked eyes with him. The human’s back stiffened as his soft brown eyes met the half Sith’s golden ones, burning like infernos. Ahsoka would not know it, but there was a steel behind his eyes that was only a shade different from Dooku’s. It was a steel Lux was all too familiar with and had sometimes seen a glimmer in Ahsoka’s blue eyes too. Maul cocked his head at him, daring him to say something. Against his better judgement, Lux turned his back to Maul and faced his soldiers and Ventress. “I know Ahsoka. I don’t know him. But if she trusts- “

“You have not heard the name Dar- “

“Is this not the decision of your leader?” Ahsoka suddenly spoke, cutting of Ventress before she could finish Maul’s infamous name. All eyes switched back to the half Jedi and she met them with faux calmness, seeking the collectedness that a Jedi would show. Still in contact with the bond she and Maul shared, Ahsoka spoke to him a private message. _“Don’t let them know your name!”_

 _“The only way that is possible is if the bitch’s tongue is cut”_ Maul growled back.

“Well?” Ahsoka continued to all. “If you cannot take us to Saw, then take us to your leader.”

“And what if I am the leader of this little band of soldiers?” Ventress smirked and spread her arms wide as if she had her hands on every man and woman in the jungle. The soldiers feet shifted, and more tense looks were shared among them. _Well that’s not true,_ Ahsoka thought. 

Lux turned back to the pair. His eyes flickered to Maul for half a second before he looked solely at Ahsoka as if to pretend the half Sith was not there. “It will be fine. I will sort this out” he said quietly.

“Oh please do, my patience is nearly at its end” Maul snapped. Lux’s lip twisted down in a grimace and he narrowed his eyes in challenge.

“I wasn’t talking to you…” he muttered. Maul twisted suddenly like a dark predator towards him and the full intensity of his glare aimed right into Lux’s soul pinning it down to his bones. The human blanched at it, his eyes going wide and hurriedly stepped back. A hidden root snagged his boot and he stumbled before his soldiers and ‘captives’ onto the leaf littered floor. Ahsoka winced where Maul smirked mockingly at the human struggling to his feet. Lux snarled wordlessly at the half Sith, but his broad smirk stayed. Crimson with embarrassment, Lux stiffly turned to the soldiers.

 _“Maul, stop it!”_ Ahsoka growled over their bond. Maul’s real eyes flashed towards her face, they were bright, angry and all to ready to start seeing the saber staff sawing through the people around him. 

“Why are we playing these games?” Lux said to Ventress. “We have to take them to base!”

Ventress eyed Lux for a moment, her cold eyes evaluating him, adding together thoughts and schemes until her mouth twitched into a menacing half smile. “I believe it speaks to your experience- or lack thereof. You think to allow strangers to enter our ranks even if only a guest. Is that naivety that I sense?” she did not wait for his response. “Fine. We will take them down. But they are your mess, Lux my dear.”

“What- “

“Not just Tano either. But him too” she pointed to Maul. “ _Especially_ him. Any little mess, any little problem they cause…It will be on your head.”

“You can’t- “Lux cut himself off and grit his teeth in a tight glare. “You know what? Fine. I take the responsibility!”

“Lux” Ahsoka stepped forwards. The click of the soldier’s blasters made her freeze mid step, but she kept her eyes on the man before her. “You don’t have to do this.”

“It’s fine” he replied. He glanced over his shoulder and gave Ahsoka a soft smile, just like he did when they were young. That smile was not enough to win her over to his opinion anymore.

“I don’t want to see- “

“Take them” Ventress suddenly said.

Before Ahsoka or Maul could blink, soldiers from all around encroached on them like predators descending on prey. Maul’s hand twitched on his staff and Ahsoka lunged across the small distance that separated them and clasped his wrist. _“Do not!”_ she insisted.

 _“My choices are beyond yours to dictate!”_ Maul snapped back just as the soldiers were less than a meter away.

_“I am in just as much danger as you. Please. We need these people as allies!”_

_“Are you including Ventress as our allies?!”_

_“When we are faced with soldiers more than ready to kill!”_ Ahsoka squeezed his wrist, coxing a snarl from his grim expression.

 _“You presume much, Lady Tano”_ Maul said as the soldiers encroached upon them. _“You call them soldiers. I call them_ pests _. We both know they mean nothing._ All _of them mean nothing if it means we survive.”_

 _“I seriously doubt you feel threatened by these people”_ Ahsoka grimaced as hands grabbed her by the shoulders, yanking her hand away from Maul’s. Her grimace morphed into a dark frown as she weighed her morals and the half Sith’s against each other. There was a vast chasm separating them, one governed by logic and the other emotion. Though sometimes they intermingled. There was very little she could say before he decided to use the staff in his hands. Except one thing. _“Lux has vouched for us- “_

_“And why should that placate me?”_

_“Remember!”_ Ahsoka continued. _“This is our source of information. Forget pests, soldiers or Ventress. The best and most reliable information at the moment comes from here!”_

Maul’s eyes flared brightly in her mind, and Ahsoka could feel the thoughts streak in his mind before a heartbeat could pass. Just as a soldier grabbed him by the forearm, his real eyes met hers again and he slapped the saber staff into its holster. _“You best hope that this works. Or I will use my own methods.”_

Ahsoka could not decide if that was a threat or a promise and then decided with an angry glare that they weren’t so different. _And just how long until your patience burns out?!_ She wondered. It was not just herself tied to this half Sith now, but Lux too… _Too little. Dammit!_ She grit her teeth as she allowed rough hands to wrangle her wrists behind her back in cuffs and her weapon quickly pulled from her belt. Watching that silver saber vanish made sickly dread pool in her heart. Ahsoka did not want it lost, it was not hers to begin with. Maul sneered at the soldiers who seized his hands until they were bound in thick durasteel cuffs like Ahsoka’s and his eyes blazed even fiercer as they took his saber staff out of the holster.

“Oh I rather like this view…” Ventress purred and gracefully slunk over to the captive pair. Ahsoka and Maul sneered at the Sith assassin who stalked between them and draped her hands leisurely over their shoulders. Ahsoka shiver at the touch and grit her teeth silently as those spindly pale fingers drummed against the edge of her lek. “To think it would be this easy. I remember all those fun times hunting you down Tano” her fingernails began to bite into Ahsoka’s white and blue flesh. “I also remember helping once, and this is how you repay my generosity…” the hand reached up and pinched the half Jedi’s chin, dragging her face over to meet Ventress’ cold and angry eyes. She smiled and the dark pulpy blood over her nose and lips cracked like dry mud.

Ahsoka glared back until her face twisted into a malicious snarl, refusing to look anywhere but her eyes. She would not give the Night Sister the satisfaction of being within her power. “It suits you Asajj” Ahsoka began sweetly. “You look less like an old corpse.”

Maul roared with laughter, his feline voice cackling through the jungle, almost mingling with the animals cries as Ventress’ face darkened with rage. Ahsoka’s lips twitched on her face as her eyes briefly flickered to the half Sith, feeling quite pleased with both of their reactions. Another hand gently touched her shoulder and her small smile still stayed even as she glanced over to the bearer. Grim faced and cool, Lux shook his head and whispered lowly. “Do not antagonise her, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulder out of the Sith assassin’s grip. “I have dealt with her more than you.” Lux’s grim look did not change even as he shook his head and stepped away.

“Canvas!” Ventress suddenly ordered. Hands seized Ahsoka from behind and she barely had time to blink before a dark and smelly canvas bag was pulled roughly over her montrals and head. Ahsoka struggled as the bag was cinched and bit back a curse as hands none too kindly hauled her backwards, her feet slipping on the leaf litter. Maul’s rage bled through the bond like hot water and she heard his snarl as bodies quickly moved around her. He no doubt was receiving similar treatment. The sun had set and there was no thin particles of light to seep through the bag. The only indication of where she was the calls of the wild, and the sharp orders of the soldiers shoving her around in the dark.

The bond twitched and a pair of angry golden eyes lit up within her mind, the only source of light she could perceive. _“Do you happen to have a plan?!”_ Maul demanded.

 _“Actually, yes I do.”_ Ahsoka stumbled over a hidden root and hissed under her breath. _“I am fairly confident that Saw is alive. Lux is helping us so it is highly likely we will meet with him. He is reasonable. We just have to explain the situation.”_

 _“…”_ The half Jedi could hear his heavier footsteps behind her. The soldiers were keeping them relatively separate. _“I will give you five hours.”_ Ahsoka jolted in her step and the hands guiding her shoved her on roughly.

 _“What do you mean?”_ Ahsoka shook her shoulder from the hard grip but they dug their fingers deeper.

 _“If we are held captive for longer than five hours, I will remove both of us from their hands. I am_ not _debating this.”_

Ahsoka’s face pulled down as she hesitated on his words. Boots scarped on the rocks and roots beneath them, mingling with the whispers of words that filtered through the thick canvas bag. _What are they going to do with us if we cannot talk to Saw?_ It did not prompt speculation. Ahsoka knew very well what armies do with unwanted prisoners in a war zone. She touched the bond in her mind and those golden eyes awaited her answer. _“Okay. But promise it will be five hours.”_

_“You have my word, Ahsoka”_

She hoped it would be enough time. If Ventress and her soldiers could find the two outcasts so quickly, then what of the empire? A thought she did not give voice also lingered in the back of her mind. How many people will Maul kill to get them out?

They stumbled blindly for what seemed hours. The soldiers guiding the pair saying nothing around them, even as Ahsoka called out for Lux briefly. Maul and Ahsoka kept in contact with each other constantly. Both identifying sounds or smells that could indicate where they were or coming from. The life and territory of animals thriving in the warm sun, humid jungle and clear skies of the day transferred into the colder grasp of the nocturnal. Shriller cries and thunderous growls rumbled around the trees and undergrowth as predators and prey woke up. Ahsoka sometimes caught brief whiffs of fresh running water, the ripe fruit on an unseen tree and more frequently than not, the foul odour of something rotting in the darkness. The half Jedi wondered briefly if it was prey or a person lying dead and out of reach. In between such observations Ahsoka began counting each step they had taken, and she mentally reached over three and a half thousand. With a boundary for difference she calculated that they had walked perhaps six standard kilometres from the clearing where they encountered Ventress. _We have completely overshot the old camp…Where could they be taking us?_ It was far too wild to be the large cities nearby. Just as she tried to guess where they could be, the soldiers stopped, and orders were spoken swiftly to each other. Confident footsteps approached her from behind and a hand briefly touched her shoulder.

“It’s me” Lux’s voice said. “We are here.”

“Where is ‘here’?” Ahsoka replied.

“It’s- “

“Don’t answer that” Ventress snapped next to her.

“Asajj” Lux sighed and she heard the human walk around her. “We can trust her!”

“No we can’t. Not yet anyway” Ventress said, her voice tight. “Are you truly dull Lux? Or just a naïve fool?”

“What the Hell does that mean?!” Lux snarled, his voice rising high.

“Those Empire soldiers are Clones my dear. Those precious villages and cities you valiantly defend are under attack from them. And who used to command those troops?” Ventress’ voice was rich with condescension.

“…Clearly something has changed” Lux growled back.

“It’s true!” Ahsoka quickly said before either could speak. “The Clone army- “

Something hard slammed into her face through the canvas bag. Searing pain blossomed over her eye and her vision spotted with flashes of strobing white light. Ahsoka yelped in pain, staggering backwards from the blow, her face already aching against her skin.

“Asajj!” Lux yelled. Dizzy from the strike, Ahsoka numbly felt hands grip her and push her back in place again as Lux started to shout at the Sith assassin, though his words were lost to Ahsoka. The bond within her mind squirmed with anger and Maul’s bright eyes lit up within her mind. _“What happened?!”_ he demanded.

 _“Ventress getting some payback for earlier…”_ Ahsoka struggled forward again, her head held high. _“Don’t worry, I’m fine. You’ve done worse when we spar.”_

Maul did not feel pleased by that response. _“…If this does not work,_ she _will be the first one I go after.”_ Ahsoka did not know how to respond to that but knew he most likely reached that decision long before she was injured. The arguing between Lux and Ventress had stopped. All around Ahsoka, soldiers moved into formation, silent and expectant. Somewhere behind her a soldier activated his comms before he spoke softly into it.

“Red Sword active. Meeting at the eighth gate.”

The comm crackled for half a moment and then a woman’s delicate voice replied. “You have two new Bugs with you.”

“Bugs to be studied. Red Sword cleared it. Black Quill agreed.”

 _Red Sword? Black Quill?_ _Is that Ventress and Lux?_ _It must be, Red Swords and all…That must mean Maul and myself are the ‘bugs’ to be studied._ _They all seem so competent now. I remember when I had to teach them how to use a hand grenade._ Excitement bubbled in her chest and she shuffled her feet in anticipation to see the results of her tutelage. 

“Very well. Eighth gate opened” the woman’s voice said then the communication was cut promptly.

Silence covered the hidden jungle in a thick oppressive blanket. Ahsoka lifted her head left and right, trying to capture some light or some glimpse of the Partisan’s main base yet it alluded her completely. If only she could hear or smell something useful to collect her bearings. _But on Dagobah…_ She remembered how easily Maul could see even in near pitch darkness. Maybe that simple canvas bag was not enough to muffle that keen vision. _“Maul”_ Ahsoka said through the bond.

_“What is it?”_

_“Your vision is good, can you see anything?”_

_“Beyond the stains in this bag and the atrocious weave? No. My eyes cannot focus like this.”_

_“Shit.”_ As she clenched her teeth in frustration the ground beneath Ahsoka’s feet rumbled. _“…Are you feeling this?”_

 _“Yes”_ Maul replied, his voice feeling aggressive. As they spoke the rumbling grew stronger and stronger until the half Jedi’s feet began to vibrate from the tremors. Through it all the soldiers diligently collected themselves together. Maul growled under his breath as he was shoved forwards, his shoulder knocking into the middle of Ahsoka’s back. But despite it, the pair sunk their feet into the ground and braced themselves against the roar of the earth. Something unrelenting and huge tore itself from the ground, a cry of steel grinding against each other heralding a mass before the party. Ahsoka felt it rise before them, the shape groaning with each second that passed until it suddenly fell silent in the jungle. Wildlife that scurried away into burrows or hid from the trespassing mass lingered quietly for half a second before crying in the night. As if to defend their territory. Cool wind breathed from the thing like it was some living beast and whispered around the half Jedi’s ankles, tossing the black cloak here and there. _It’s a structure,_ she thought and sniffed the breeze. It smelled like damp steel and oil. _A building? Or something else?..._ A hand grabbed her by her shoulder and moved her forwards. She walked silently, still sniffing the air, trying to hear anything of use when her boots drummed on a something solid. Maul’s durasteel boots rang loudly on the same surface, each step booming until it echoed all around them.

“Brace yourself” Lux whispered.

Ahsoka opened her mouth, spitting out the filthy bag sticking to her lips as she did so. “Why- “The floor beneath them jolted in motion. Ahsoka’s breath stilled in her chest for a moment, shocked at the discovery that the very thing they stood on was not a building, but a vast elevator. _We are going below!_ She thought. Anticipation burned in her gut as the floor smoothly descended for seconds and then minutes. When in shuddered to halt Ahsoka knew they must be deep below the surface. _Deep enough to avoid detection._ She thought. A sharp beep chirped from the wall in front of her, snapping Ahsoka’s head up in that direction. With a mechanical hiss, the wall in front of them split apart and bright white light filtered through the thick fibres of the canvas bag. Even though she could not see this new territory, Ahsoka could definitely hear what was in it. The footsteps of hundreds or even thousands of people marching up and down corridors, the hum of engines and hover carts traveling the same floors. And the smell…It smelled like the Star Destroyers. Cold, mechanical, sterile with the underlying odour of the starch in bandages and the tang of bacta. It was the most familiar thing in the universe to Ahsoka. A war zone.

Light footsteps slunk across the ground to Lux. “They are your responsibility, my dear. But I have made some decisions for you. You will take that one to the hold and quickly. Watch him. Watch his every move!” Ventress ordered, her voice growing darker with each word. “Do not let your guard drop even for a second!”

“Wait- “Lux said. “This _is_ my responsibility. I want to take them both.”

“No.” Ahsoka heard Ventress lower her voice until only Lux was supposed to hear. But Togruta hearing is very, very good. “ _He_ is dangerous. I will not have them together. They are both too dangerous together.”

“If Ahsoka trusts him…”

“This isn’t about what the girl wants.”

There was a finality to the Sith assassin’s tone that would brook no argument. Ahsoka heard Lux hiss between his teeth, venting his pent-up frustration. Remorse panged in her chest for him briefly. She had no intention of causing such trouble let alone being discovered. With Ventress bullying him as a superior and Maul downright humiliating him before his soldiers…He was not having a good time. Ahsoka reached for the bond within her mind and immediately those golden eyes lit up the dark corner of her mind.

_“They are separating us. Ventress wants Lux to take you to their holding cells. I don’t know where I am going but somewhere different.”_

The bond twitched with dark and itchy emotions flowing through their minds and when Maul spoke his voice felt irritated. _“Do they seriously think only a cell will hold me?”_ Maul said.

_“Yes and let them think that. I can’t smooth this over if you break out of the cell and start splitting skulls.”_

Those golden eyes seemed to roll within her mind. A hand grabbed Ahsoka around her strong bicep and yanked her nearly off her feet. “Watch it!” she snarled as she staggered for balance.

“You are coming with me” Ventress said sweetly. 

Ahsoka grit her teeth and allowed the other woman to pull her out of the massive elevator. A litany of footsteps followed them, a guard of soldiers by the sound of heavy boots and blasters clattering with each step. _“Please don’t cause any trouble for Lux…”_ Ahsoka asked meekly through their bond.

The half Sith’s irritation spiked like a dark thorn from a vine at the simple request. She heard a muffled snort coming from his direction before she was pulled away by Asajj’s hard hand. “What are you going to do with _him_?” Ahsoka growled.

“That will be decided. Do you wish to be rid of him already?” Ventress replied. “I would be glad to watch him die at my feet. Him and his brother- his brother especially- were insufferable. But he isn’t here is he? Tell me Tano, what has become of Savage Opress?”

What Maul screamed beneath the trees of Dagobah amongst the thunder and lightning replayed within her mind _‘Only Savage knew! Only he should know, and the secret died with him!’_. Her heart dropped like a rock into her belly. She did not know Savage. But he was so important to Maul…

“I know why you separated us” Ahsoka’s voice was colder than ice. “You know you cannot beat us. With just one of us you have a fraction higher chance of surviving. But you will not touch him. I will not allow you to harm him in anyway and I will _know_ if any comes to him. And if you do…” a darkness crept into her words tainting it until _she_ did not even recognise it.

Asajj was silent though her eyes were trained on the half Jedi’s covered head warily. There was no lies in her words. _I will not give you the satisfaction of learning what happened to Savage_ , she thought. Unseen people walked past the group and after a few minutes she felt Ventress lean in again to whisper by her head. “What has he done to inspire such loyalty?” she asked.

“As if I would tell you!” Ahsoka snarled back.

“And that bite to your words. That’s new too…” Asajj took Ahsoka’s shoulder, stopping their slow walk. It was quieter where they stopped and smelled less like a med bay. “Hmm…” Ventress hummed her voice calculating. The way she analysed Ahsoka set her on edge, it felt like she was dissecting her, no, her relationship with Maul with a sharp blade. The nape of her neck prickled, for all the half Jedi could think of were those rare moments. Those…strange moments. The look they shared over the campfire. The touch of his face in her hand. When he reached for her hand on the ship before…And more, more memories, more times that something changed between them. When a charged tension would fill the air and she would wish…

“You best loose that tone before it does more harm than good” Ventress said, abruptly halting Ahsoka’s thoughts. “Keep her under guard. I will send for her soon” Ventress ordered the soldiers around them,

“Yes ma’am” the group replied in union. A hand took Ahsoka by her restraints and pulled her against the wall, the damp surface chilling her skin at the touch. Ahsoka tossed her head here and there, trying to catch a small glimpse of Asajj as she walked away but she saw nothing. Growling under her breath Ahsoka dropped her head against the wall, seething with irritation. _Only five hours. Less than that now. Force if this doesn’t work…I wonder what Maul is doing._

She touched the bond in the corner of her mind, and it twitched as those golden eyes appeared again. _“I think Ventress is talking to Saw, or someone high up. What is happening with you?”_

 _“That boy is trying to talk to me”_ Maul said irritably. _“He could be useful for information, but I doubt he knows as much as he think he does. If Ventress- “_ even across the bond Maul seemed to spit her name. _“If she could mock him in such way in front of their men then he does not have any true influence.”_

Ahsoka paused at those words. _He’s right. What power does Lux actually have?_ She shook her head at the thought. She hoped he would have achieved loftier goals than this. _“Are you answering his questions?”_

_“No.”_

_“Probably for the best for now. And he isn’t a boy, he is my age.”_

_“Well he needs to stop acting the child. If he thinks playing with words will get under my skin, he has much to learn!”_

A small smile grew on Ahsoka’s dark lips at the image of Lux trying to interrogate Darth Maul. _“Well it is rather easy…”_

_“Oh do not start.”_

_“You are proving my point.”_ His golden eyes flashed warningly in her mind and her smile grew with glee. _“Alright, well what questions is he asking?”_

 _“What is my name. What is my relationship with you._ _How did we get through the Empire’s military force surrounding the planet. Nothing relevant.”_

_“…Have they removed your hood?”_

_“No. But they have put me in a dark and rank room somewhere deeper in this fortress. I vaguely know where I am from the elevator.”_

_“Good. If this doesn’t work out, we need a quick way to escape.”_

_“And get through that Space Gate again? That will not be simple.”_

_“We literally just did it.”_

_“And no doubt those Clones are searching for our rogue ship.”_

_“True, but- “_

What sounded like a door hissing open broke Ahsoka’s message as those light footsteps walked towards her once more. “Take her in there” Ventress ordered. Those hard hands grabbed her by her shoulders once more and forced her from the wall. _“Ventress is moving me somewhere, I’ll talk to you soon.”_

 _“Very well.”_ With that, Maul’s eyes vanished within her mind and she was left decidedly alone though surrounded by foes. She walked and the same door slid shut behind her before she was shoved roughly into a cold metal chair. Chirps of computers and machines echoed through the room. Ahsoka lifted her knee and felt the hard surface of a table before her and a waft of cool air rushing out of the air refresher somewhere above. But above it all a different set of footsteps approached her. They were hard and heavy, full of confidence as they paced around the table and stood before her. The edge of the canvas bag tugged and suddenly was pulled free from her face. Bright light from the florescent lights above and the computers blinded Ahsoka for a second and she winced against its glare, the wound over her eye hurting terribly.

“Well, well. It is you! And here I thought Asajj was messing with me!” a familiar rough voice said.

Ahsoka peeled open her eyes, her cobalt blue iris near covering her pupils against the harsh light. But there he was. Tall, strong, with more facial hair sporting a magnificent beard and less on his head, Saw Gerrera grinned over her from above, his own sterling blue eyes beaming brightly. “Saw!” Ahsoka exclaimed in delight. Excitement bubbled in her chest and she stood to her feet in greeting only to be shoved back in her seat by Ventress’ long hand. The half Jedi threw a glare over her shoulder to the Sith assassin leaning contemptuously against the wall. Scowling, she turned eagerly back to the man before her. “I knew it! I knew you were alive and still fighting!” 

“Of course I am!” Saw looked over Ahsoka’s shoulder and frowned at the restraints binding her hand. “What the Hell- Get these off of her!” he ordered the soldiers by the door.

“Sir” a human woman strode forward and took Ahsoka’s bound wrists in her hand, fiddling with the locking mechanism.

“Those are on her for a reason” Asajj growled from the side.

“Zillo shit!” Saw swore. The restraints on her wrists fell away suddenly, freeing her hands of the uncomfortable bond. Twitching her lips up in the smallest smirk at Ventress, Ahsoka rubbed her wrists, forcing the blood back into her numb fingers. “We owe Ahsoka better than a prisoners welcome.”

“It’s fine Saw. I’m actually pleased with the measures that was taken” Ahsoka said. “I haven’t seen this…Fortress, but from what I can tell you are doing well.”

“More a glorified, over sized bunker I’m afraid” Saw shook his head and walked to the other end of the table to his seat. “I am glad to see you. Truly, Ahsoka, we have much to catch up on. But we are not doing as well as you might think…Once the Imperial invasion began, we could no longer stay in our headquarters of Central.”

 _Straight to it then._ “Yes, tell me about that” Ahsoka leaned forwards. “I thought war was over for this planet.”

She went to say more but Saw held his hand up, abruptly silencing her words. “We will get to that. Asajj has told me concerning things. I need you to answer my questions first” he said gravely.

Ahsoka frowned, taken aback by his sudden change of tone. _Since when can he question me? No, he’s in the right. I wonder what Ventress told him…_ The half Jedi sat up straight in her seat and steepled her hands together. “Of course. What do you want to know?” Saw drummed his fingers on the table. In seconds his eyes lost that warm spark or greeting and transformed into something cold and sharp she had never seen on his face before. _He has the eyes…of a killer. What has happened since the order?_

Those hard eyes flickered to the soldiers behind her. He curtly tilted his head and they drummed their feet in union as they left the room, the hiss of the door beckoning in a cold silence. His eyes switched back to her and none of that sharpness was lost. “I need your answers to honest. With no unnecessary information. Do you agree?”

“Yes.”

“How did you find us.”

Ahsoka’s hairless brows rose. She was not expecting that to be his first question. “We did not know you were active. Though I did not check to find out. We intercepted one of your soldiers transmissions on the planet Dagobah. We heard about the Empire invading and about a rebellion group known as the Partisans. We tracked the transmission here where Ventress found us.”

Saw’s face grew darker and darker with each word until the very end when he slammed his fist on the table, shaking it to the floor. Ahsoka’s fingers tightened in her hands with surprise but she kept her face smooth. “Damn!” he roared. “If she could intercept one of our transmissions on _Dagobah,_ then the fucking Empire can too!”

“We change the transmission codes ever hour” Asajj said calmly. “Tano must have had quite a bit of luck to snag it. Or she had resources from working for the Empire…”

“I am _not_ working for the Empire!” Ahsoka growled. Saw’s furious gaze swivelled back to her his face trembling with a barely contained sneer.

“Then who do you work for?!”

“Whoever is trying to fight. Have you heard what the Empire did…” her words faltered, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Grief welled in her heart, but now was not the time for it. Brushing her hands down her lek to sooth away the pain, Ahsoka opened her eyes again. “Have you heard what happened to the Jedi?”

“…” Saw leaned back and his fingers began to drum against the table once more. “I have heard. The whole galaxy has heard. The Empire is demanding any information or survivors. Those they know have escaped have substantial bounties on their heads.”

 _Force!_ “That is my whole reason to fight. What was done… “ _What Anakin had done._ Ahsoka shook her head throwing the thought from her mind. _Oh Force the younglings…_ “What was done was more than just genocide. A whole culture was lost. A group of people that built something great over thousands of years was _destroyed_ by the Empire.”

“Pretty speech” Asajj sighed and stalked to the table. Her long form leaned sensually across the edge and fixed her with a mocking grin. “But you’re skipping over the part where you were _expelled_ by the oh so wonderful order…”

“It’s true” Ahsoka ignored Ventress with her bloody grin. “I left because my beliefs no longer align with the order. But what _they_ \- the Empire- What they are doing is fascism. What they have done is horrible and Force knows what the Emperor intends to do next!”

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Saw’s fingers drummed across the table and the anger in his eyes cooled into hard steel once again. “I know you, Ahsoka. I don’t believe you would willingly work with Empire. Even if they are using your Clones.” Ahsoka sighed through her nose with a pent-up breath she did not know she was holding. “But what I don’t understand” Saw continued, his fingers drumming, drumming, drumming over and over again incessantly. “Is your partner.”

Ahsoka’s eyes flickered to Ventress. The Sith Assassin smirked again and idly inspected her nails as if _bored_ of all things. “Something tells me you already know who he is” Ahsoka stared at Ventress. _So that is what she spoke to Saw about._

“I want to hear it from you.”

Asajj’s smirk spasmed on her face and she rounded on Saw, vibrating with anger. “Is my account not good enough for you?!”

“Information is not good if it only comes from one person, Asajj” Saw flickered his bright blue eyes to her. “You are also biased.”

“And she is not?!”

“She…” Saw looked back at Ahsoka. “Has to be honest right now.”

Under the eyes of Saw and Ventress, Ahsoka tilted her head and thought about her half Sith friend. _Ventress would have already told him about who Maul is. But does she know the rest? Maul is an asset, or he can be. I have to make him one…_

“My partner is a Sith lord known as Darth Maul” Ahsoka began. Saw’s face did not even flinch at the revelation. _Okay so he definitely knows that._ “He was once an apprentice to Darth Sidious, who is now obviously under the guise of Emperor Palpatine. However that relationship is well and truly destroyed. We have a shared goal which is why we are working together. To stop Sidious.”

“Well that corroborates with your story for the most part” Saw said to Ventress. “But I have never heard of this…Sith lord before. I need to know more.”

So the pitch began. Ahsoka explained how Maul ran an underworld crime syndicate known as the Shadow Collective and Death Watch while simultaneously ruling as Mand’alor and governing. She described his accomplishments, his masterful skills as a fighter and how knowledgeable he is with warfare. “…I do doubt he knows Sidious as well as he thinks he does. But that’s still more than me. And if I had to guess, more than everyone in this room.”

Saw nodded and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Is he still in contact with the Shadow Collective?”

“Not currently, but I overheard him talking on Mandalore that his departure and return is expected.”

Saw nodded and got to his feet, looking to the monitors blindly. “He sounds useful…”

“You cannot be serious” Ventress sneered.

“I very much am” Saw turned to Asajj. “In case you haven’t noticed we are outnumbered, outgunned by these Imperials. We need every asset we can get.”

“You don’t even know him!”

“Do you?” Ahsoka muttered. Asajj shot her a dirty look full of disdain.

“I _know_ that he should not be trusted!” Asajj snarled.

“Hm…” Saw glanced back at Ahsoka. “How much do you trust him?”

 _I trust him with my life, but…_ There was this niggling concern in the back of her mind that Maul’s old habits die hard. _He thrives in political games as much as fights. His aim is seeing Sidious dead, but what if he wants more…_ “I _personally_ trust him. But I think you need to make that decision yourself.”

“Couldn’t agree more. I want to speak to him. Whose guarding him?”

“Lux” Asajj growled.

“Good, that makes things easy” Saw touched his communicator on his wrist and lifted it to his mouth when Ahsoka leaped to her feet.

“Wait!” she demanded. Saw’s brows rose, the communicator held halfway to his mouth, but he did wait expectantly. “I think it would be in everyone’s best interest if…not many people know who Maul is.”

Saw glanced at Ventress and slowly nodded his head. “We did the same for you, Asajj. So I take it you would prefer if Lux did not know?”

“Yes” Ahsoka continued. “Lux has had bad experience with Sith lords.”

“If you are referring to Darth Tyrannus then that situation is well behind him.”

“Well I wouldn’t know. I haven’t even spoken to him in years” Ahsoka tapped her chin. “But if we are fighting an Empire lead by a Sith lord with another one… Then it may be in everyone’s best interest to keep that information need to know.”

“Do you agree with that?” Saw said to Ventress.

“It looks like it’s already been decided” she spat. The Sith assassin shoved herself off the table and paced back and forth down the its length. “But if you’re still asking for my _opinion_ , you are making a mistake!”

“Just because you’re threatened doesn’t mean it’s a mistake” Saw’s brows lowered warningly. “I like you, Asajj. And I appreciate all you have done for us. Let’s talk to him before we make any decisions.” That seemed to placate Ventress as her pacing slowed and that terrible glare on her face twisted away. Saw waited for a moment and after seeing there was no further comments from either Ahsoka or Asajj, he activated the communicator. “Lux, are you there?”

The communicator crackled for half a second until Lux’s voice spoke clear. “I’m here Saw. I’m still trying to get this…Man to talk. He hasn’t said a word.”

“You’re not _interrogating_ him I hope.”

“No, but I’m tempted.”

“Do not!” Saw ordered, his voice darker. “I want to speak to him. Bring him to me.”

“What if he’s dangerous?”

“We are all dangerous here.”

“…Okay. We will be there soon.”

“Oh and Lux” Saw added and turned back to the computers behind him. “Is Dedra there?”

“Dedra? He will be nearby. Do you want him as well?”

“Yes. Tell him it’s important!”

“Alright. Over and out.”

The communicator fell silent and Saw angrily crossed his arms. “Picking up our messages all the way on Dagobah! Dedra you had one fucking job- “Saw pinched the bridged of his nose, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Who is Dedra?” Ahsoka asked cautiously. 

“He is what you would probably call a captain” Saw muttered. “He was in charge of communications. It’s his fault you were able to detect us!”

Ahsoka could understand Saw’s anger at their communications being so easily hacked. But naming it a _fault_ that was partially her responsibility made dark anger brew in her heart. “You’ve changed, Saw.”

Saw turned back to her, and that steel was back in his eyes. The edge to it was cutting, something that had been honed from innocence into something other. Something cold. “Death changes us” he whispered. 

Ahsoka frowned at the Onderon native as the cogs in her brain turned. _Steela’s death? The war? Or is it more…_ “I suppose it does” she said and lowered herself back into the seat. Saw snorted and turned back to his screens with hands clasped behind his back. He looked menacing in that instant, a black silhouette with sharp edges looking out into his own world. Minutes passed in silence until there was the sound of footsteps drawing closer and closer out the door. And with those, a distinctive heavy pair. The door opened with a hiss and three people walked into the room. Maul, his hands still restrained and the bag still over his head. Lux standing by his side, his large soulful eyes flickering between Ahsoka, Maul, Ventress and Saw. And finally the third person. A tall Zabrak man stood to attention behind the others and drew Ahsoka’s eyes. While Maul was a _Dathomirian_ Zabrak, this man was rather different. He was pale, remarkably so with short black hair and only three horns on the crest of his forehead. He sported an easy smile and tilted his head towards Saw and Ventress.

“Ello general, ma’am!” the Zabrak grinned. Ahsoka’s eyes widened at his strong rich accent. “You’ve called me, eh?”

“I will get to you in a second” Saw growled and turned around. “Oh for- Lux take his bag and restraints off!”

“Saw, we don’t know- “

“Actually I do know. Take them off” Saw ordered with a flick of his fingers.

Lux gaped and hesitated for half a second before stepping behind Maul and taking his restraints in hand. “Answer what ever question he asks!” Lux whispered yet Ahsoka heard everything.

Maul snorted under his breath, the bond shared between them twitching with his amusement at his suggestion. As Maul’s restraints were freed of him, he idly rubbed his wrists much like Ahsoka did. Lux reached for the bag on his head and yet the half Sith reached up quickly and ripped the thing off his head. “Clean the damn bag!” He growled and dropped it at his feet.

Lux gaped and then sneered at the back of Maul’s horned head as he snatched the bag from the floor. Ahsoka glanced around and looked at all the faces staring at Maul. Asajj stared with open hostility, the shadows on the wall barely hiding her grimace as she watched the half Sith. She touched her sabers for a moment to make sure they were still there. The newcomer, Dedra, looked at Maul with open fascination, as if he had never seen someone like him before. And there may be some truth to it, Dathomirian Zabraks were a _rare_ sight off their home planet. And Saw…Saw looked at Maul with a glint in his eyes, as if he was weighing every detail.

Ahsoka coughed under her breath and stood from the chair to Maul’s side. His bright eyes glanced at her, silently acknowledging her presence. “Maul, this is Saw Gerrera” she gestured to Saw. An easy smile spread across Saw’s hard features, hiding that sharpness in his eyes almost immediately. It was like he put on a mask. The Onderon native easily walked up to the two and stuck his hand out calmly. _What the-_

“Pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard _a lot_ about you.”

Maul’s eyes flickered back to Ahsoka and then she felt the dark bon within her mind twitch aggressively. She reached back for it and Maul’s phantom eyes lit up her mind. _“He knows who I am?”_

_“Ventress told him before I could. I told him what you have done. Suffice to say he’s interested.”_

_“Hm…”_

“Yes…” Maul said out loud. He reached forward with his gloved hand and grasped Saw’s hand in return. “Lady Tano has told me about you as well.”

Saw’s smile turned into a crooked grin as the two shook hands. “Only good things I hope.”

“Never saw anything to say otherwise” Ahsoka smiled at Saw.

Saw chuckled and the removed his hand from Maul’s grip. “Well, obviously I have some questions to ask. But it’s now too crowded here. Would you all walk with me?” Saw looked at Maul and Ahsoka.

“Of course” the half Jedi replied, and Maul nodded expectantly.

“Good. I have something to show you.” Saw made for the door and both Ahsoka and Maul stepped behind him. She heard the other three fall in behind themselves and the party moved out into the hallway from earlier. Dimly lit grey walls covered in a film of moistures stretched on and on behind and in front.

“How deep are you beneath the surface?” Ahsoka asked.

“800 meters” Saw responded and lead a brisk pace down the halls. “It took us weeks to build this and we are still expanding. We can’t go deeper. Anymore and well…things would start to heat up. But we cannot go higher either. There are new Imperial ships that have a nasty habit of tracking our location.”

Ahsoka made a mental note to ask for all information regarding these new ships once Saw had shown them what he intended. “What else can you tell us?” she asked.

“I take it you saw those Star Destroyers?” Saw question and took a left at the next junction.

“Yes.”

“There was only four five days ago. The fifth is recent. I was not lying when I said we have been having significant difficulties. On official record, those ships are there to help a ‘smooth transition of power’ whatever those mean. Our government officials didn’t put up a damn fight when the Empire was formed. Everyone knows they are here for us” Saw snorted mockingly. “We are getting new soldiers daily. From the cities and villages that those Clones invade. But it’s not enough to push them back. You could not have come at a better time Ahsoka.”

Shocked, Ahsoka stared at Saw’s back as she processed all that he said. _I can’t believe it. There is no one else to help?!_ “I did not know it was that bad!” she said. “Is there no one else to fight. Even outside Onderon?”

“It is difficult communicating off planet now that there is an armada blocking us off. Our information towers only receive propaganda from the Empire or selected ministers on planet. If there is others, we don’t know of them.” Saw stopped before a set of cold white metal doors and turned back to the party behind him. “We have lost the capital city and three of the major cities on this continent alone. But the Empire is not just using Clones and new ships in their offence. They have brought something else…” He turned and stepped up to the doors. They parted with a hiss and immediately, wailing of hundreds of voices cried out into the hall. _It’s a med bay…_ Ahsoka thought and stepped to Saw side. Men and women, hundreds of them lay crying out on stretchers, surgical trollies and even the floor all around them. The more Ahsoka looked, the more horrified she became as she saw worse and worse afflictions with each person they walked past. People with severed limbs, still raw and red and stitched over with thick surgical string or wire. Their veins nearly sticking out of their skin and sickly black in colour. But that was not the worst part. Their faces stared up at the ceiling babbling or crying wordlessly, their lips a cracked and oozing blood. Their eyes, puffy and inflamed as they darted all over the room feverishly. _What the fuck did this?!_ Ahsoka thought and stopped before a Nautolan women whose leg had been amputated up to the hip.

“Please…Please make it stop!” she whispered desperately.

Heavy footsteps thudded to her side and Ahsoka tore her eyes off the suffering soldier to find Maul standing by her, his face pressed into a hard frown. She jolted in her boots as she realised their cries for mercy were so similar to Maul’s when he was in that pit on Lotho Minor. Maybe he was thinking of it too. Their bond twitched with dark wave of pain and even fear at the sight of the woman. Ahsoka nearly reached up and touched his shoulder but then she remembered his words of Dagobah. _He doesn’t want to talk about it…Not ever._ She let her hand fall to her side.

“What did this?” Maul growled quietly.

“These.” Saw walked up to the two of them with something in his arms. Within his arms sat a large glass jar filled with murky fluid half the length of Ahsoka’s arm. It was thick and scratched as if something with thin knives was cutting against the thick glass. Frowning, the half Jedi walked closer and peered into it. Inside something squirmed.

It was some creature, some abomination. As long as Maul’s saber staff hilt and thin, hundreds of short and glinting legs sprouted out of its sides and writhed around against the glass. One of the legs caught the edge of the glass and another long scratch ran down its side. The fluid was murky and yet it seemed to be some vile yellow in colour. It suddenly twisted and Ahsoka jolted as she looked into what could only be called a face. Clusters of eyes bulged out of it’s head above wicked mandibles, half an inch long. They snapped open and close, keenly searching for prey. It was foul, more than foul.

“Their official name is _Margodan skiirs,_ but we call them Fire Worms” Saw said and placed the jar on the floor. The other three walked up to Maul and Ahsoka’s side and glared at the jar with disgust. Lux even shivered as it twisted itself into a knot in its own waste. “It burrows into the flesh of whatever it can find” the Onderon native growled, his blue eyes focused on the grotesque thing. “It will always try to reach the brain. To lay its eggs. But wherever it goes it poisons the...host. It seeps into the blood, and it feels…” he gestured to the Nautolan woman, her veins a pitch black against her green skin. “It feels like you are being burned alive. We have to amputate where the worm enters before it reaches the body or head. We are not always successful.”

“How…How did this happen?” Ahsoka whispered, her eyes focused on that _thing._

“It is a weapon of the Empire” Saw said frankly. Ahsoka glimpsed Asajj’s eyes flicker to him and narrowed suspiciously, her face hard. But if she had something to say, she kept it to herself.

“The Clones…No the Clones know better, they wouldn’t _do_ this!” Ahsoka exclaimed.

“Your Clones are gone” Saw said. “You would not recognise them anymore.”

Ahsoka’s hands fell to her side as her heart dropped to her stomach. _No…Rex would never. Cody would never._ _They can’t- they wouldn’t_ do _this-_

“You said you wish to ask me some questions” Maul said by her side, his voice stony and calm. “If it is to do with these… _Worms._ Then I am afraid I have very few answers for you.”

“No” Saw stepped forward and lowered his voice in front of the two. “Could you and I have a short private chat?” he asked softly. Maul’s tattooed brow quirked but he nodded his assent. Saw Gerrera and Maul walked down the narrow path dividing the hundreds of cots filled with the dying. Ahsoka watched them go and for some reason her heart felt all the heavier. _So this is what changed you, Saw,_ she thought. 

“Who is he, Ahsoka?” Lux said to her. Ahsoka looked up at his shining brown eyes and saw all the innocence still kept safe in them. She hoped that light would never die in his eyes.

“…A work colleague I guess” Ahsoka said. Asajj snorted and turned away from the gallery of suffering before them.

“This place reeks.” She marched quickly back down the walkway towards the door. Dedra gave Ahsoka and Lux and beckoning nod and followed at her heels like a loyal puppy.

“Saw won’t mind if we wait outside” Lux said. “This place is depressing.”

“Yeah…” she took one last glance at the jar by the cot and watched as the creature squirmed to escape. “It is.”

The two ventured outside where Ventress and Dedra waited for them, the doors sliding shut and cutting off the cries of the injured behind them. “How long has the Empire been using those worms” Ahsoka asked Ventress.

The Sith assassin crossed her arms and eyed the door, her face pulled into a tight frown. “…Awhile Tano. It also looks like your _friend_ is already been accepted by Saw” she growled under her breath with a shake of her head.

“He from Dathomir, ain’t he?” Dedra said, his thick heavy accent butchering the planets name. “And those tattoos! Bloody Hell those would’ve hurt. It nice innit? Have ‘nother Zabrak in the ranks.”

Ventress growled and shot Dedra a dark look. “It our ranks, fuck what is the galaxy coming to. Enjoy yourself while you can, Dedra my sweet. Our esteemed leader has a bone to pick with you.” Dedra’s smile faltered on his face and he shuffled his feet awkwardly as if to slink away again. Ahsoka looked at the blood caking Asajj’s mouth and remembered the crunch of her elbow slamming into her nose. She felt some sympathy for her old enemy then. She couldn’t blame her for mistrusting Maul at his sudden appearance, her own reaction to him was greater and look where she is now.

“Ventress” Ahsoka offered softly. The other woman’s hard eyes flickered to her suspiciously, clearly waiting for some slanderous remark. “I’m sorry about the nose.”

Asajj’s eyes widened in surprise but then she bristled with a snort and rubbed at the blood across her lip, dry flakes peeling away onto the floor. “We’ve done worse to each other” she growled behind her hand.

Its true, they had. Years and years of clashing against each other during the Clone Wars and always being brought back to each other when they least expect it. And now, for a second time, they were working together again. Maybe it was the will of the Force, maybe it was just dumb luck. If it was going to work, the two need to learn to put the past behind them.

“Ahsoka!” Lux said and his solemn face brightened into his familiar and pretty grin. “We have time, tell me what has happened since we last saw each other.”

 _You mean since that whole damn Death Watch shit?_ But she did not say that, instead she smiled and began to tell Lux of all that had happened since she left the Jedi order until the point where Maul was concerned. It was patchy and incomplete, her heart was not even in it. Her mind kept disappearing to that creature that was wriggling in it’s jar, waiting for a victim. _And the Clones are doing this…_ It hurt, it hurt her that her precious boys would reduce themselves to such pains and measures. As she spoke, Lux’s smile faltered into a frown at her dispassionate words. He nearly reached out to her to ask if she was okay, but when her eyes flickered to the door, he stopped himself. When Maul and Saw reappeared, Saw had a look of grim satisfaction on his face. He reached for both Lux and Asajj and clapped his hands over their shoulders, Asajj rolling her eyes at the contact.

“Best welcome our new friends you two. They are Partisans now!”

“Oi a proper welcome then aye?” Dedra walked up and loomed over Maul and Ahsoka, his grin far to big for the dark mood. “Welcome brother, and welcome in gorgeous!” he boomed to the two.

“Do not call me brother” Maul growled.

“Don’t call me gorgeous” Ahsoka grimaced and crossed her arms.

“Aight, aight!” Dedra waved his hands down soothingly. “Still, welcome friends!”

The bond twitched in Ahsoka’s mind and a pair of burning eyes lit up again. It did not even phase her anymore, it had been so long since those eyes had. _“I seem to be making friends every day now”_ Maul said exasperatedly.

 _“It’s because of your winning personality”_ she responded. Maul shot her a dark look and _that_ made her smile.

“Lux show them their quarters” Saw told the young man. “Give them something decent at least. Dedra!” Saw’s eyes turned to ice again. “You’re coming with me.”

“Oh fuck me up the arse…” Dedra muttered under his breath but then smiled at Saw. “’Course General. Lead the way.”

 _“What did you talk about?”_ Ahsoka asked Maul.

 _“…He asked me how much I wanted to hurt the Empire”_ Maul growled through the bond, his feelings turning angry and hateful.

Ahsoka turned to him, ignoring everyone else, even Asajj who watched them ever so carefully. _“And what did you say?”_

Maul turned to her too, phantom eyes and real in all. His face would look blank to anyone else, but not to her. She knew him too well to let that mask fool her. The corner of his eye were tight, his tattooed lips down turned in the barest hint of a grimace. His eyes gave his answer as much as the words he told her.

 _“Whatever is enough. Whatever I_ feel _is enough.”_

Ahsoka did not doubt it or a second and clearly neither did Saw. She looked back to the pearly white doors, hiding all the pain behind simple durasteel. _Yes, whatever is enough._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memes, memes memes MEMES!  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Lux: You dirty BITCH. Look what you've done to my peonies!!!  
> Maul, *standing in his flowers*: They're MARIGOLDS!  
> Ahsoka: Good God, Maul is right. They are marigolds.  
> Lux *crying*: I may not know my flowers...But I know a BITCH when I see one!!  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Saw: *sees Maul curb stomp a civilian*  
> Saw: Oh I like this one.  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Alex Trebek on Jeopardy: What is an example of flirtatious banter?  
> Asajj Ventress: *slams buzzer*  
> Alex Trebek: And Asajj has the first answer. Asajj, you wrote...  
> Asajj: Who is Darth Maul and Ahsoka Tano  
> Alex Trebek: CORRECT!  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Haha, I hope you liked those memes. Next chapter is going to be so fun, because now all the major characters are all together, it means there's a lot of character interactions happening...Which you all will most definitely like ;) 
> 
> P.s. Yes that does mean the scene I was excited for will be in the next chapter 100%


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all here we are again. Big chapter ahead of us and I think you all will really like it. Sorry it took a while but as you can see its over 10,000 words and editing is a bitch. I will just clear some stuff up now before you all read. I've written Dedra as having a Scottish accent and his dialogue reflects it in how he speaks. So I know some of you do translate this fanfiction to read it and if you have difficulties understanding what he is saying, comment and I will clear it up for you!
> 
> Secondly, there is some graphic descriptions in this chapter of gore and violence. Last time I used this warning in chapter 10 it was pretty bad so don't worry, this is no where near as bad as that. 
> 
> Now I'll let yall read and say some more at the end. Enjoy!

“Here, here and here is where we once had supply lines from cities _discreetly_ supporting us” Saw Gerrera gestured across a large holomap set across the length on the table in his main office. Ahsoka, Maul and Dedra leaned over the table and looked at a small thin trail of red dots snaking out from distant cities, over topographic jungles and mountains until they meet at an unspecified centre of the jungle. The unmarked headquarters of the Partisans. “Since the Empire invaded, over the course of a week, two of these three have been destroyed.” He waved his hand and two of the trails evaporated off the map. “And neighbouring villages and towns of those lines are now under Clones control. Now, our only supply comes from Lipuria city. It’s the furthest from base and donates the least compared to the other two.”

“Aye an’ now we ‘ave less tonics for our sick” Dedra leaned back up and drew both Maul’s and Ahsoka’s eyes. “An’ less weapons. Fockin’ worse still but what little resource we ‘ad are now bein’ spread thin. Those wee beasties in the jars, those wee worms are no’ satisfied with Partisan meat. No’ any longer. Families, old, young even the kids are now bein’ plagued by the devils. Particularly these towns along our last supply line.” Dedra pointed to little circles along the last weak little supply chain.

 _Even children…_ Ahsoka shivered at the thought. “So only places that are in contention with Clones and Partisans.”

“No’ true” the Zabrak waved a finger. “We’ve lost most o’ me contacts in the cities. But last reports I got were sightings of the bastards in with the poor.”

“What, why only the poverty area?!” Ahsoka demanded.

“It is likely the most desperate people live there. The ones who suffer the most from Imperial rule” Maul said and tapped his fingers to his chin. “They are rebelling as a last resort.”

“You would think so” Saw added. “But we have tried time and time again to recruit from such sectors or at least find people willing to spy. They’ve betrayed us _time and time again_. It doesn’t make sense if they are also trying to rebel.”

Ahsoka looked up from the map in time to see Dedra glaring at Saw. His eyes were dark with anger and his lips was twitching up in a sneer, revealing longer canines than usual. If Saw felt his gaze or even noticed it, he said and did nothing. _Why is he…_ Dedra glanced over and caught Ahsoka’s eyes, and just like that his face settled and morphed back into his casual smile. The sudden change made Ahsoka’s skin crawl. “Where are these Fire Worms coming from?” Ahsoka asked. _Why did Dedra look at him like that?_

“TIE fighters drop them from the sky in capsules that open on impact” Saw muttered and stepped away from the table. The table’s projector flashed, and the map was replaced with a holographic image of those strange fighter ships Ahsoka and Maul saw around the Star Destroyers. “We shoot down as many as we can within our range. But we have no aircraft ourselves, we can’t bring the offence to _them_.”

The group discussed tactics and ideas to at least hinder the encroaching Imperial army, but every idea, even the creative ones they came up with were shot down one by one. Saw had either already tried them or even more strange methods, but the sheer number of Clones thrown at them was overwhelming his guerrilla warfare. So far, groups of Partisans could only achieve hit and runs on small off groups of Clones and interrogating the few they captured alive. They shot down what ships they could, but they had to spread their attacks wide to not attract the enemies to their base. What the Partisans _needed_ was one immense push, one huge offence to push out the Empire and the fleet orbiting their planet. But what strength Saw’s militia once had was now a shadow. It had been four Onderon days since Ahsoka’s and Maul’s welcome to the group and Ahsoka was beginning to see things that kept her up at night with worry. Not that she could sleep much to begin with. Fear now danced in the eyes of the soldiers. The med bay was beginning to overflow if it wasn’t before, more soldiers being sent out in body bags rather than bandages and bacta. And more and more often the smiles and comradery Saw had was replaced by that hauntingly cold ice…

 _And they can’t ask – can’t beg for anymore help…_ The information Saw provided on the Empire was equally dark. Saw had shown them all the holograms the Empire has produced and each one was worse and worse than the last.

 **“And the remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated!... In order to secure the security and continuing stability. The Republic will be reorganized into the first galactic EMPIRE!”** A shadowed face had boomed, etching his very words into Ahsoka’s mind all amongst thunderous applause echoing from the speaker. That shaky voice, that old voice that Ahsoka had heard so many times was now like barbed wire, paired with two venomous yellow eyes that seemed to stare into her. I know _exactly_ where you are, they seemed to say. And Maul…The mere sound of Sidious’ voice near sent him into a blaze of fury and hatred so strong the bond in her mind hurt like an open wound. It took him hours to calm down, even with Ahsoka and Saw attempting to distract him. But that rage still lingered even now, the familiar anger and hate kindled within him was burning brighter than usual.

Ahsoka shook her head, trying to shake away the memory. “Saw you need to ask for help” she stated plainly.

“You think I don’t know that?!” Saw snapped. He typed something into the holoprojector, and the image of a TIE fighter was replaced with a live image of the Star Destroyer blockade around the planet. “If you know how to get rid of these or even the bloody transmitter blocker please tell me!”

Ahsoka’s eyes narrowed at his tone but she blinked the anger away and tried to see it rationally. _He is stressed that’s it._

“Then get rid of the transmitter” Maul growled. “ _Capture_ one of their fighters. Infiltrate the system, destroy it within!”

That made Saw pause, and his icy blue eyes turned to the half Sith wonderingly. “Now that’s a good idea” he smiled and nodded with appreciation. “But easier said than done. We would have to separate one from the group and bring it onto the surface undamaged. We don’t have tractor beams.”

“An’ we don’ have their lingo either” Dedra chimed in.

Ahsoka looked at Maul who met her eyes too. A spark shot between her blue and his gold, a message that they didn’t need to say to each other. “Leave it all to us” the half Jedi smiled.

“To you two?” Dedra scratched the base of a horn.

“Bringing a fighter down safely won’t be an issue. And Clone jargon shouldn’t have changed much since I’ve been there.”

“Yes, an’ why were ye in the Clone army love?” the Zabrak asked his fingers tapping away at his wrists.

Ahsoka’s broad smile lowered a fraction. “Ah I won’t say.” The fewer people who knew she was a Jedi the better.

“It doesn’t matter” Saw waved Dedra down. “But if you two can pull it off…That would probably be the best advance we’ve made in weeks!”

“We need to know when and where they appear frequently. I intend to go quickly and get it done as fast as possible.” Maul stood away from the table and fingered saber staff that was in its rightful spot. Upon welcoming, Saw promptly returned the weapons to their owners, much to the disgust of Ventress. Ahsoka superstitiously touched hers also and nodded.

“Excellent, excellent!” Saw grinned and rubbed his hands together. “I will gather some reports and tell you when it’s time.”

“We appreciate that. Is there anything else to discuss?” Ahsoka asked.

“No, no. Not until Asajj is back, which won’t be until tomorrow morning” Saw said. It was true, Ahsoka could feel Asajj’s presence out there, but couldn’t locate it like she could with Maul’s. “Thank you both for your advice.”

“We should go during the day” Ahsoka turned to Maul. “I can see better then.”

“Day break would be ideal” Maul agreed and glanced at the time on one of the many computers. It was only nine o’clock at night. “We have time to fill.”

“Well if you’re feelin’ to blow some steam” Dedra walked around the table to the door. “We have a new and improved training quarters for ye’ to knock each other around aye?” he grinned and nodded to their weapons on their sides. Apparently, Dedra assumed they had looted them from dead Jedi. Ahsoka hated the assumption but in reality, she came by her saber by that very method.

The half Jedi looked at Maul whose eyes glinted with interest as the bond they shared twitched with anticipation. _Looks like we are going to dance with sabers again,_ her cheeks warmed at the thought. It always felt so… _intimate_ , sparring with Maul. It was like they were the only people to have ever exist when they did. “I could ‘blow some steam’” Ahsoka stretched her shoulders meaningfully.

“Dedra, you should escort them there and then update them when we know where the TIE fighters are” Saw said from his spot.

“Aight general as you say” Dedra gave a faux salute as he walked to the door that made Saw’s face twitch with ire. “Could the esteemed Lady and Gentleman please follow me?”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and joined the Zabrak at the door. “You’re always quick with it aren’t you?”

“Oh, don’ insult me like that. I’m _never_ quick” Dedra waggled his eyebrows at Ahsoka suggestively. Ahsoka grimaced at the innuendo and rolled her eyes again to the floor, avoiding Dedra’s knowing look. But then…The bond in her mind pulled like a rope torqued with anger and…something else? Something possessive. Ahsoka was not too sure but it felt familiar.

“Just take us there!” Maul growled and strode to Ahsoka’s side with burning eyes, drilling into Dedra’s head. The other Zabrak gulped noisily and opened the door like his life depended on it.

Ahsoka wondered at his sudden anger as she watched Maul from the corner of her eyes. It seemed to spring out of nowhere. It didn’t make sense. But warm butterflies tickled her stomach at the thought that he _could_ be angry because of Dedra. “Uh…Aight this way then!” Dedra stumbled out the door and made a brisk pace down the corridors that stretched on and on in the distance.

Maul muttered something under his breath in Dathomirian and strode out the door next to Ahsoka. “What did you just say?” Ahsoka asked softly.

“None of your business” Maul grunted and folded his arms behind his back.

She snorted and followed Dedra at a comfortable distance to this new training quarters. She watched the Captain’s back and processed that furious glare he gave to Saw not minutes ago. It was strange and chaffed against her brain like sandpaper. “Did you see the look Dedra gave Saw?” Ahsoka whispered softly.

“Yes I did” Maul muttered back.

“…I think there is something people aren’t telling us.”

“Most likely” the half Sith glanced at her, his eyes clouded again. “Secrets are everywhere. In war there is more.”

Ahsoka said nothing and trained her eyes straight onto Dedra’s back as he took a right at the corridor intersection. It was not the first time Ahsoka had seen such looks towards Saw. Ventress seemed to know more than she let on, and her little glances at their leader suggested it all the more. The trio passed their rooms, two small private units. One for Ahsoka and another for Maul sitting opposite each other in the desolate corridor. Even foot traffic of soldiers was lesser down here, it seemed to be the unofficial area for the higher ups. Lux upon delivering them to it seemed reluctant to have them so close together, though Ahsoka could not fathom why. He even offered a dingier room closer to his and seemed positive she would accept it. She remembered his mildly put out face when she declined. It was almost annoying.

“You and Saw seem to be getting along” Ahsoka said as they turned left and passed a group of soldiers tramping down opposite them.

“He is an interesting individual” Maul replied. “But strange. Did you know he invited me to drinks?”

“No I didn’t know that” Ahsoka scoffed, a smile crossing her lips at the image of Darth Maul and Saw Gerrera as _drinking_ buddies. _Where is that hospitality for me?!_ “Where was my invitation?” she jabbed.

“It was implied. Obviously, I declined. There is no place for drinking now.”

“I did not know you partake in alcohol.”

“Very seldom I do” Maul grunted. “It dulls senses I would rather not be dulled. And you?”

“Same, only occasionally.” She wondered what look Anakin and Obi-Wan would have on their faces if they caught Maul and Ahsoka drinking together. Her smiled grew at the thought and then abruptly died. _I guess I will never know…_

“Here we are then!” Dedra suddenly boomed a handful of meters in front of them. Before him was a door that looked no different from the hundreds of others Ahsoka saw in this bunker. Glossy white and no windows to peer within. It could have been a med bay, sleeping quarters or a mess hall for all she knew. “A christening ‘tis. Ye lucky ones will be the very first to try out the place!” The Zabrak stepped closer and the door parted smoothly to either side. A bright white room covered in obstacles, climbing rigs from small net fences to treacherous walls and pitfalls stretched out for nearly two hundred meters in length and half that wide. It reminded Ahsoka of the training facilities in the Jedi temple, or the Clone ones on Kamino.

“Oh nice!” Ahsoka complemented and was already shrugging off the dark cloak sequestered around her shoulders.

“So you do not have enough resources to stabilize your army, but have enough to build _this_?” Maul’s judgemental look could make a politician embarrassed but Dedra just shrugged his large shoulders awkwardly.

“This ‘ere was in production long before we lost the other supply lines…” 

“Okay, thank you Dedra, we appreciate you showing us this” Ahsoka smiled and made to close the door.

“Oh cannae I watch?!” Dedra pleaded, his eyes widening to show off his big amber coloured irises.

“No. Bye” she waggled her fingers and pressed a button on the wall. The door slid shut cutting off his fake groan of disappear.

“In production before the supplies were cut!” Maul scoffed and glanced around the room critically. “What ridiculousness.”

“What’s done is done” Ahsoka tossed her cloak to the side of the door. “I’m just grateful I have somewhere to thrash you.”

“Why must you antagonize me?” Maul grumbled and slipped his staff out of its holder.

Ahsoka smiled in silence as she took forth her saber also. Already the anticipation for a fight worked its way through their bond. They circled around each other, in sync, reading their footsteps, their posture well before they ignited their sabers. And when they did the dance began. It always amazed Ahsoka, sending a thrill of excitement straight through her chest as the bond seemed to nudge in her mind what Maul would do. She knew it was the same for him, and the spark in his eyes whenever they met showed just how much he enjoyed it too. That and his smile. After every fight she tried not to think about how much she likes it when he smiles at her over the crackling blades of their sabers.

Back and forth, the two struck and parried across the room until their battle made their muscles ache and their body sweat. It took them high and low, not once did either feel confined to the treacherous environment until it took them to the precipice of a deep pitfall. Over the course of their many sparring matches, the two had become accustomed to the strange sixth sense they had. Allowing them to just _know_ what the others next move will be. It was far more difficult for either to land a blow, but when they did, it counted. Ahsoka’s blue blade deflected the cut that would’ve have split her in two and then the next. But briefly, between the moments of saber meeting saber and the flurry of movement, she saw a window of opportunity. Maul’s eyes flashed at her as he saw it too. Barrel rolling in the air, Ahsoka drove her boot deep into his side. Maul grunted in pain and stumbled half a pace backwards, but it was all that was needed to send him tumbling over the edge. Or would have been. Ahsoka snatched out at the last second and grasped his gloved outstretched hand, staggering at the sudden tug of weight on her tired body. Maul’s durasteel boots scraped on the edge and he let himself be hauled back over from the fall, a little smile curling his lips.

“I win!” Ahsoka grinned and released his hand once he was over the edge.

“Won?” Maul tugged at the edges of his shirt meticulously, the smile growing on his tattooed lips. “What gave you that impression?”

“I landed first strike.”

“Our fights have never been concluded by a measly first strike. Especially one that is not lethal.”

“You’re just saying that because you want some cold hard revenge!” Ahsoka chuckled. A sudden urge overcame her, and she impulsively reached and jabbed his ribs with her strong fingers.

“Watch it, Lady Tano!” Maul growled and slapped her hand away, but his smile grew even more because of it. It was infectious. “Remember what I said earlier? Our fights have to be as dangerous as possible.” Ahsoka’s eyes widened as he suddenly lunged forward with his deactivated light saber and thwacked her across the hip.

“Hey!” Ahsoka giggled and fended off his light-hearted attacks. “That’s unfair!” She had never seen this much of his playful side before, her heart fluttered at the sight of it. Maul just grinned and redoubled his efforts in a barrage of bludgeons to her. Laughing with glee, the half Jedi warded off his brutish strikes with some of her own. It echoed around the room, brining in the first glimpse of humanity with it.

“By my calculations I have struck you many times now, so it is clearly me who is the victor!” Maul grinned.

“Oh you’re on!” Ahsoka took up her saber and was about to ignite the dangerous blade when the door behind them swished open.

“Ah…Hello there” a light voice said. Maul and Ahsoka halted immediately but then turned and watched as Lux walked into the room, his eyes flashing between them and the room itself. Maul’s smile died on his face immediately and he slapped his saber back into its holder. The bond writhed with irritation and Maul’s good mood evaporated like steam on a hot day. “I had a feeling you would be in here Ahsoka. I didn’t know there would be company though” Lux smiled easily as he approached.

“We were about to spar” Ahsoka smiled back but the mood was gone from the room.

“Spar?” Lux’s eyes flashed to Maul with a glimpse of criticalness. “That doesn’t sound very fun.”

“And is that why you are here?” Maul said lowly. “To have fun.”

“Well…If Ahsoka is interested” Lux muttered and once again his bright smile was aimed straight at her.

 _If I’m interested?_ “What do you mean?” She did not need to ask, she knows that smile with all its charm and prettiness and what it means. The half Jedi shifted uncomfortably and was all too aware of Maul’s eyes on her.

“Oh come on Ahsoka” the human walked closer. “We used to get up to so much trouble together. And well…I’ve missed you. I want to reconnect.”

 _Missed me?!_ Ahsoka cheeks burned and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Maul’s face twist with incredulousness. _Oh no._ “By ‘so much trouble’ are you referring to you trying to assassinate Dooku? Or that whole shitshow with Death Watch? That was a lot more than trouble, Lux. I had to save your skin twice.”

“Death Watch?” Maul said, his eyes glinting.

“Ah yes, I dealt with the terrorist group before” Lux puffed his chest out like some pretentious chicken. “Death Watch is an extremist group made out of the remnants of the old culture on Mandalore. They- “

“Do not lecture me boy” Maul interrupted. “I am the last person who needs it.”

Lux’s face turned crimson red and he rounded on Maul. “I am actually here to have a conversation with _Lady Tano_!” he growled. “Not argue with someone like you. I think you should leave!”

Maul roared with laughter, his deep voice booming around the room like a chime. “I see no reason for that. And I do not argue with naïve fools.”

“Fools!” he spluttered. “What is your problem?!” Lux snapped and strode up to the half Sith, blissfully ignorant of who he was and thrust his face into Maul’s. The bond flared like a flame in a breeze with a sudden threat of violence as Maul cocked his head at the human. 

“Maul” Ahsoka nearly reached for his arm but stopped herself. “Don’t.”

He snorted and peered into Lux’s soft brown eyes with his piercing gold. “Trust me, Lady Tano” he said nonchalantly. “It is not worth the effort.”

“No, you’re right, it’s not” Lux sneered and turned back to Ahsoka. “I’m not here for _this_. I came here because we have an opportunity, Ahsoka. What we had was special and I think in times like these we _need_ to seize happiness wherever it is!”

Ahsoka gaped at Lux, mortified by his completely inconsiderate and sappy words. The bond twitched and she felt Maul grow equally surprised and fascinated by Lux. “Oh dear” he muttered and began to pace around the pitfall.

Lux grew even redder if possible and nearly turned on the half Sith again when Ahsoka’s mortification changed suddenly to anger. “You have got to be kidding!” she snarled at the human. Lux snapped back to her, his eyes wide with confusion. Her anger spiked even more at the sight of it. “I haven’t seen you in _years_ and you expect to waltz on in here and what?!” Ahsoka gestured wildly to the air. “Try to get with me?! We were fifteen back then Lux. It’s nearly been ten years and _now_ of all places you want to try this? In a fucking _warzone_!”

“Yes!” Lux exclaimed and walked up to her. “I just…I wanted to- “

Maul’s boots scuffed on the ground a distance behind the two, drawing their attention. Lux’s open and imploring face snapped shut and he glared over Ahsoka’s shoulder. “Could you please leave!” he yelled across.

“No” Maul replied, out of Ahsoka’s sight. “I am enjoying the show.”

“You walked in on _us_ trying to spar, he has no reason to leave. He’s staying” Ahsoka stated and crossed her arms. “Did you bother to consider my feelings in all of this?”

“But…” Lux gestured around the two of them as if to point out some grand plan that only he knew of. “Have your feelings changed?”

“Oh I don’t know!” Ahsoka growled, drumming her fingers off her arm irritably. “Have a guess!”

A motley of emotions ran across Lux’s pretty face. Shock, confusion and then even anger. It was like he expected it to all go his way, like nothing had changed since Ahsoka was little better than a child. “It’s because of _him_ isn’t it!” Lux thrust his hand out and pointed at Maul over her shoulder.

“How arrogant of you” Maul sighed candidly as if this petty tantrum was annoying to him. Ahsoka knew better. He was most certainly entertained by all of this much to Ahsoka’s ire.

“Why the fuck would it be to do with him?” Ahsoka demanded. “You have _no_ idea who he is, or who I am anymore.”

“But you have changed, Ahsoka!” Lux replied, his eyes dancing frantically between herself and Maul. “This is not _me_ being arrogant. You’re not the same or you’re just…different. Your love is gone. I don’t see that friendliness you once glowed with in you anymore.”

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry that’s a huge inconvenience to you!” Ahsoka snarled. “But don’t you think it’s to do with a culture, my _whole_ culture and people I cared about being massacred?!”

Lux stepped back like he was shoved, his expression aghast as sweat beaded on his brow. “I’m sorry Ahsoka. Truly I am. But that is why I think it’s all the more important to find happiness wherever it can be found.”

“You’re not listening!” Ahsoka growled and turned her back on him. Maul stood opposite her, on the other side of the pitfall, his arms crossed and face deceptively blank. He was no longer amused by Lux, he was downright irritated. But when his eyes met hers across the drop between them, they flashed with sympathy and the bond too. _He would know what I mean. Force what happened on Dathomir…_ “I am not interested.”

“Ahsoka” she heard his footsteps behind her and almost groaned in frustration as his pale hand touched her shoulder.

_You’ve said enough, dammit!_

“Please…Just give me a chance” Lux whispered. “Please.”

Ahsoka grit her teeth and seethed silently. She gave him her answer, she was not going to make some exotic parrot out of herself and repeat it just because he hoped she would change her mind. Maul’s eyes flashed into her own with irritation, his enjoyment of Lux’s little _show_ had run its course. “I suggest you remove your hand before you lose it boy” he growled.

“I am not talking to you!” Lux snarled at the half Sith. “Can you get that through your thick horned head! And what gives you the right to have an opinion? You just walked in here all high and mighty and wrap Saw around your little finger only to tread on the rest of us! And now what – what are you jealous of me _touching_ Ahsoka?!” Lux squeezed her shoulder possessively. Fury spiked within Ahsoka that from across the pitfall she could see mirrored in Maul. His face, bond and all.

“It is the woman who you peruse that will make that decision.”

It was only then that Ahsoka realised she was drumming her fingers against her saber. “Get off of me. Right _now_!” she hissed.

Lux’s hand flinched on her shoulder and then very slowly pulled away, as if hesitant to make any sudden move. Only when she heard him take a few short steps back did her fingers stop touching the saber on her hip. “I think this might be easier if we stepped outside and discussed this…Properly” Lux muttered.

“Oh for the love of the Force!” Ahsoka rounded on him, her fists bunched by her sides. “I am not interested in what you have to say. You’ve said enough, you’ve made your point painfully clear and I have made my own. This is the last time I tell you, the next time you try to make _this_ ” Ahsoka gestured violently between the two of them. “Happen, I will throw you out the door with a black eye!”

Lux stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief until they snapped over to Maul and then his beautiful face turned hideous with pure anger. Ahsoka just knew the half Sith was smiling. “Fine. Be that way” he turned halfway to leave and then stopped. He looked at her again, but a malicious smirk spread across his face. “It seems you wish to spend your time being miserable and sparring. If that is your wish, then I will happily accept it.”

 _Good,_ Ahsoka heaved a sigh and readied to turn away, but Lux was not finished.

“Though I don’t see the appeal. Where is the challenge in fighting a fucked-up cripple?”

The room went deathly quiet. Ahsoka stared at Lux, shock numbing her faster than the slow horror burning her beneath it. She felt her mouth open once, then twice before words could pass her lips. “What did you just say?” she whispered.

“Oh so now you’re listening to what I have to say. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed that _he_ ”, Lux tossed his luscious head of hair at Maul behind her. “Is missing his legs and more. And what use is a cripple in a fight? With his shitty attitude I’d say he’s overcompensating for something else he’s lost. But what do I know. It seems to me you would have an idea, _Lady Tano_ ” Lux spat. “Can you even call him a man- “

Wrath, pure blood chilling wrath spread through the bond in her mind like a poison. Clutching her montrals, Ahsoka gasped as a dark blur shot past faster than her eyes could follow. Maul suddenly stood before the human, looming over him like a dark spectre. “I think I will take your mouth” the half Sith whispered. Lux gaped at him, fear just beginning to widen his eyes when Maul’s left leg shot out, driving his durasteel shin home into the bone of Lux’s jaw with a sickening crunch. The human shot back through the air, his eyes rolling to whites in his skull before he landed on the floor with a bang. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, dark crimson droplets pooling on the glowing white floor. Maul jumped and landed with his boots on either side of his head glaring at him like an eagle with a mouse under its talons. Ahsoka stared at the upturned face of Lux watching as blood pooled out of his lips and across the caved in crater that was his jaw. A high pitch whine echoed around the room. Lux’s hand jolted up and tried to grasp for the air desperately.

Maul scoffed and raised his boot again. Ahsoka cringed as she watched it drop and heard the nauseating snap of teeth breaking to pieces. The whine was replaced with a muffled choking sound as Lux was forced to swallow his own blood, parts of his tongue and teeth. “Not long ago, I would have _slaughtered_ you for such comments” Maul began, his voice a dead whisper that seemed to shout around the room. “I would have done it slowly. Over months if I had the patience. I no longer have such luxuries. Not here. Look at you beneath my boot” the half Sith ground it in more. The sound of Lux’s blunt fingernails scrambling at the ground mingled with the sound of splintering bone and meat. Maul smiled, not the smile Ahsoka saw when they sparred or joked. It was malicious. It was _hateful_. “If you were strong, I would have taken your legs. If you were smart, I would have carved off some of your brain. Just enough to leave you alive…But you are neither of those things. Your greatest strength was that mouth of yours and it was the very thing that put you here. Beneath. My. Boot” Maul punctuated each word with weight added more and more to the ruin that was Lux’s mouth. The human’s chest heaved, needing air, begging for it even.

“I will leave you alive. Only to see fear in your eyes each time I look at you. When I pass you in the hall. When I see over Saw’s table. When I see you out there in the jungle. And I will _smile_. And what you will see with your fear filled eyes…Is my boot. A cripple’s boot crushing your face in. And if for a moment you collect some more of your fool’s bravery and there is no fear…I will return, and I will break you some more.” Maul slowly lifted his boot off of Lux’s face. Sticky trails of clotted blood and bone stretched between them and Maul reached it over and wiped it casually off on Lux’s dark shirt front. Then he looked up and met Ahsoka’s eyes, wide with shock, her hands limp by her sides.

“…” Maul went silent and stepped away from Lux’s head, his eyes focused on her alone. Meeting him wordlessly, Ahsoka jolted when the bond in her mind tugged and the same pair of golden eyes before her was reflected within. _“I left him alive for you Ahsoka. He insulted you too. Do what you want with him”_ he said. The half Sith turned and wordlessly left, his heavy footsteps echoing in the silent room.

 _Maul…_ Ahsoka thought as the man slipped through the door, leaving her with Lux. No more could be said within her mind. Confusion clouded her, hiding clear headed thoughts and feelings. She did not know what she was shocked from. Lux’s terrible words, or how swift Maul’s punishment was enacted. A Jedi was a peacekeeper and dealing with peace meant dealing with justice. Lux’s words were a crime in her eyes, from all that she knew, from all that she saw on Dagobah and Lotho Minor. Even if she did not know the circumstances, she would not stand by as someone insulted another based on a war wound. A thing they had very little control over. It was his runaway mouth that made the crime and Maul dealt with it equally. The brutality was harsh. But maybe it was deservedly so…

Her footsteps echoed around the vast room as she approached the whimpering Lux. When her feet stood on either side of his head, just as Maul had, she looked down and frowned at him critically. His face could not be called less than a desolation. The jaw was caved in on the right side, all of his teeth shattered into white messy stubs. The ripped remains of his tongue flopped between his lips, churned to a pulp. Blood swamped that crater of a mouth only to run out the jagged corner and drip more onto the floor. Maul said he would take his mouth and he meant it. _I doubt you will ever be called pretty again,_ Ahsoka thought. _Maybe his punishment was too harsh…_ Compassion welled in her heart for a second.

“A-A-A” Lux’s eye peeled opened a fraction, his once bright brown eye now swamped dark with blood and pain. “E-E-E- ‘Elp m-m-me…” he gagged.

 _“HELP ME!”_ Maul begged on Lotho Minor.

The compassion died.

Ahsoka felt her face pull into a ferocious snarl. “How dare you” she whispered.

 _Pain. Agony. Madness._ Those black whispers haunted her mind behind the visions of Maul, in the pit with the snake. “How _dare_ you!” Ahsoka bellowed, her voice raw. “I don’t even know what to say to you. I don’t know what possessed you to say such disgusting things. You’re scum. You’re lesser than scum!” her fists trembled at her sides and it was all she could do not to lash out and strike him. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

“P-P-P-lease” Lux choked out between spurts of blood. “Elp m-me.”

“No…” Ahsoka shook her head and stepped away from him, she couldn’t stand the sight of his face. “But here’s what’s going to happen. Beyond our work here with the Partisans you will not talk to me again. And if I hear even a breath of what you were proposing with me earlier, I will force you to stop. That’s it, that’s all there is to it. I’m glad Maul did not kill you, he wouldn’t even need to raise a finger to do it. He left you alive so I could have my justice. I don’t need it. Not when you’re here looking like this. You don’t even know a glimpse of how much he suffered. This should educate you. Find your own help Lux.” 

His half-choked pleas followed Ahsoka as she turned and quickly walked for the door. _Is Maul… No he is too hard to let insults affect him._ But that did not stop her from snatching her cloak off the floor and swinging over her shoulders in a fluid movement as she threw herself through the door. Sweat beaded on her brow and ran down to the beginning of her Lek. _This is different though._ Or was it? Ahsoka remembered the few times she insulted him about his legs before that fateful night on Dagobah and how Yoda did too. While angry and threatening at the time, it did not seem to affect him otherwise. Ahsoka shook her head and briskly walked down the corridor the direction they and Dedra came.

That didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.

 _Didn’t seem to, how do I fucking know! This bond doesn’t tell me everything._ She was hoping or dreading to see Maul up ahead or even waiting at the corner of an intersection. It was only when she halted before their rooms that she understood that he had no intention of waiting. Ahsoka eyed his door warily and focused on the bond in her mind.

It felt – no, Maul felt restless and angry. More than he usually did. _Obviously_ , she thought and walked to the door. She only hesitated for a moment before rapping her knuckles across the steel door three times. _What will I say to him?_ A moment of silence passed without his presence, then another. _What can I say to him?_ Frowning, Ahsoka knocked again but was only greeted with silence. _I bet he’s not in there._ Cautiously she activated the pad on the side and the door slid open. She looked over a spartan room, holding only a neatly made bed, a cupboard and a wash basin. There was not even any personal belonging besides the backpack sitting at the foot of the bed. And most importantly, no Maul.

“Of course…” Ahsoka muttered. She found herself walking into his room, her fingers gripping her cloak as she paced back and forth down the small space. It didn’t really seem to matter that this was his private room. They shared a small spaceship and campfires over the past two months. It seemed trivial for her to be inside his room at that point, especially when it held so little of his presence. _Let’s analyse this. One: I cannot find him. That means he doesn’t want to be found._ She grit her teeth at the thought and drummed her fingers against her saber. _Two: That either means a couple of possibilities. He did not kill Lux, but he_ wanted _to. That means he is trying to cool off his blood lust out of the way. Or the second…_ Ahsoka sighed and her fists relaxed as guilt and compassion swept over her like a wave. _He was hurt by his words…The least likely of the options but I can’t rule that out._

“Fucking Lux! Why did you have to say _that_ of all things!” And then what he insinuated was going on between herself and Maul…

Ahsoka flinched and sank onto the bed. It was hard and smelled too sterile, just like her own. “And why would you say _that_?” she whispered. She buried her face in her hands and went over Lux’s words like they were some mysterious puzzle. Mortified, embarrassed, it all felt the same. Like an insurmountable tide was washing through her stomach up to her throat. She hissed and scrubbed her face, hoping to grate away the sensation through physical pain. It did not work.

Even then she tried to dissect why Lux would see their relationship as that. _We are…I won’t say close. I don’t know enough about him._ She didn’t know how much _anyone_ knew about him, but she felt like she knew the most. _But we are obviously friends._ She remembered how she giggled and smiled at Maul as they were _playing_ with each other. And how he smiled at her back, it even reached his eyes. _Oh Force if Lux was watching that…_ Ahsoka cringed even more and nearly collapsed back on the bed, only stopping herself at the last minute. It would be only a small step to misconstrue that encounter. _But, how could he? There is no windows into the hall, and we would hear if the door opened…_ No it had to be something else that brought Lux to say those things.

Then another niggling thought prodded its way from the back of her mind. Maul _is_ handsome. And charismatic. And smart. And powerful. Maybe Lux assumed her attraction to him. And the way they were always talking, how their rooms are opposite one another’s… “That’s right _assumed_ ” Ahsoka bit back against the treasonous thought. “He assumed it. There is nothing there. I’m just acknowledging facts!” she hissed. “Just facts.” She trailed off and wrapped her fingers through the black cloak to squeeze her frustrations out on the fine weave.

“I am not here to think about that!” she growled out loud. “I am here to think about what I should do.”

Rationally, Maul left without a word because he wants to be alone. He didn’t contact her through the bond or face to face. After all he had been through and no doubt the shame of losing half his body, it would make sense that he needed some time to himself. At the same time it did not. He didn’t seem the type to allow the spiteful words of someone he did not know to affect him. She remembered the desire of violence Maul felt as Lux squared up to him and processed that too.

_Lux’s punishment was going to happen eventually. Could it be some excuse?_

It still didn’t make sense that he decided to vanish because of it. She wondered if she should contact him through the bond. Even there, not interacting with the bond fully, she could feel his burning anger making it writhe. She knew him well enough that contacting him in that manner could be enough to set of his fury. _No, that won’t do,_ she shook her head and ruled the thought out. The only other option was to find him, like she had on Dagobah, or wait for him to return. _If finding him would be so easy…_ On Dagobah she stumbled across him singing. While the bond gives her a better idea where he was than a normal probe in the Force, it could be difficult to track him at night in a jungle.

Ahsoka drummed her fingers against her chin, lost in thought when suddenly the door opened. The half Jedi shot to her feet, startled at the sudden intrusion and heat already inflaming her cheeks as she had been caught resting in Maul’s room. “I’m sorry!” Ahsoka began. “I was wondering where you were- “she froze as she recognised the Zabrak in the doorway was not Maul.

“Ello, ‘ello love” Dedra grinned and nodded his head around the room. “Been looking for ye. Did no’ expect you to be here though” he quirked a brow and eyed the impression she left on Maul’s bed.

“I- I was looking for Maul…” Ahsoka said stonily and hoped against hope that her blush was not too visible.

“Well he already left to look for those TIE fighters. Passed ‘im on his way out” Dedra’s thick accent made ‘out’ sound like ‘oot’. “We have locations and times. They should be where he’s headed in an hour, round five actually.”

 _It’s already four AM?_ Ahsoka glanced at her communicator and was surprised that so much time had passed. Well her sparring sessions with Maul did tend to drag out longer than she ever anticipated. She breathed a sigh of relief and held out her communicator. “Could you send me those coordinates?”

“Aight love” Dedra tapped his own device and a series of golden numbers appeared on the display above her wrist. “Now ye want to tell me what happened to Lux?”

Ahsoka paused and slowly raised her head to meet his hard gaze. He watched her, his eyes peering into her own, cataloguing every look, every twitch that could give away some information. It made her stomach twist slightly. _I’ve never been the best liar, Maul would attest to that._

“It was a training accident” Ahsoka said evenly. The sound of Lux’s teeth shattering filled her montrals.

“A trainin’ accident hm?” Dedra walked into the room and fingered the strap on the backpack by the bed. His voice was deceptively light. “I’ve no’ heard of no training accidents that send a man to ER for emergency surgery.”

“He wasn’t in bad shape when I left. He must have done something foolish” Ahsoka replied icily.

“I may no’ have known Lux for long. But he does no’ strike me as a man who makes foolish decisions.”

“He must of this time” Ahsoka crossed her arms and walked just past Dedra, her eyes trained on the door. “Will he have a quick recovery?”

“All his teeth are powder now. His tongue is a flap of flesh. But they can be replaced.” Ahsoka felt more than saw the Zabrak turn and stare into her spine. “His jaw is focked. He won’t talk properly for the rest o’ his life.”

 _Maybe that will teach him to think before he speaks,_ Ahsoka looked over her shoulder. Dedra was still watching her, his face and eyes pure steel. “I wish him a speedy recovery then.”

Dedra’s mouth twitched upwards for a moment. “Aye ye do that love. Now I best no’ keep you.” Ahsoka nodded and rushed out the room before she could hesitate, but even as the door slid shut behind her she heard his voice call out on last message, slurred with that strange accent. “I hope what he did was worth the punishment!” 

Ahsoka grit her teeth and nearly ran down the corridor. _It was. At least I think it was…_ She shook her head and packaged up the talk she had with Dedra to the back of her mind. He knew. And in seeing through her lies, he proved himself far sharper than she gave him credit for. All those smiles and jovialness hid that cunning mind. _Or am I really just that bad of a liar?_ It was a weakness of hers that she would rather not strengthen, but time and time again life was recently giving her little choice.

After four days within the Partisan’s headquarters, Ahsoka had grasped her bearings for the most part and rushed towards the massive elevator they were brought down in. Soldiers and machines alike swarmed around that entrance, but no one was taking the lift up or down. They were waiting for their duties there and did not impede her as she opened the lift. As soon as she walked to its centre, it moved quickly, bright flashes of yellow light skimming across her face for every ten meters passed. _At least Lux won’t die,_ Ahsoka thought. _And if he did his last memories would be me calling him scum._ Her heart shrivelled at the thought. She shook her head again, cleansing herself of that possibility because it was behind her now. Right in front of her was her need to meet with Maul.

When the great doors slid apart before her, she tilted her head up and listened to the cries of predatory birds that ruled the treetops and the skittering light feet of prey scurrying in the undergrowth. Ahsoka breathed deeply and allowed the noises to run unignored through her montrals. She missed them after the haunting noises of people below. After a moment, she opened her eyes and glanced at the coordinates at her wrist. _To the East and then North._ She set off in a run not bothering to look back as the elevator slid shut and buried itself back into the ground. 

As she ran, she made the decision to contact Maul rather than springing herself upon him. She touched the bond gently, feeling it wriggle for a moment before two golden eyes winked into life. _“I’m coming to meet you for the TIE fighters”_ she said quickly before she could say anything else.

He was still angry, she could feel it and see it in his eyes. _“Do you know where I am?”_

_“Yes. Dedra gave me the coordinates.”_

_“Follow the coastline”_ he replied and then those eyes faded away. Ahsoka sighed and altered her direction to North. Soon, she could see the barest hint of light filtering through the trees, all soft purples and faded whites. Eventually, those brief glimpses of light gave way to windows between the trees as moonlight seeped through the gaps, revealing more of the jungle around her. It was only a few more seconds before she heard the roar of the ocean. 

Ahsoka stepped out between the trees and was welcomed with a beautiful sight on the cliffs. The four moons around Onderon rested over the sky in huge full moons or gentle crescents sending a glow of purple and soft white across the dimming stars. The waves captured the light and their shapes, morphing them into ripples refracted by the light. Ahsoka allowed herself to admire it for a moment. She remembered Yoda telling her to appreciate the beauty in the galaxy while it still lasts. But after what happened in the training room, the light from the moons felt a little less lustrous. Sighing, she looked left and right and noticed that to the left the wide edge of the cliff crumbled away into a dangerous precipice while the right side stretched across the coast for miles. _To the right then…_

Walking slowly, Ahsoka considered what she was going to say to Maul. Rocks and loose sticks crunched under her boots as she stared at the moons and thought. Ignoring what happened in the training room would be stupid, it was very likely Maul would not. So what could she say? What she saw shocked her to her core but… She shook her head and kicked a small rock off the edge of the cliff. The dull plop was lost to the crashing of the waves. _Is it worth even trying to prepare for this?_ Maul had a very annoying habit of saying the most abrupt and strangest things. Maybe he liked throwing her off her train of thought. The last thing she wanted but what was a distinct possibility is that Maul may take his linger anger out on her. In his mild defence he hasn’t truly done this before, ignoring the fight they had on Dagobah. _Oh who am I kidding, it’ll probably turn into an argument or-_

Her thoughts trailed off as Ahsoka glanced up and caught sight of a familiar silhouette standing on the cliff edge in the distance. She halted mid step and stared at Maul, watching the moons as she had. His arms were crossed, his body rigid as if he were a statue. She shifted her feet side to side, unsure what to do. Maul’s arms uncrossed and he turned slowly to the left, and even at a distance she could see the flicker of bright light that was his eyes.

“Why are you just standing there?” he called out to her.

“I…” Ahsoka trailed off and just sighed. Then she held her head high and calmly approached the half Sith, wary of his anger. Maul watched her as she approached, his eyes studying her face in detail. When she was just a meter away from the tall man, she traced her eyes over his familiar face. The red on his skin was darker in the moon light, it nearly blended in with his tattoos. “I didn’t realise you left so early” was all she said.

“If I stayed any longer that boy would have more than his mouth crushed” Maul growled, his eyes lit dangerously.

“Yeah…I figured that” Ahsoka sighed again and turned to the cliff edge barely a pace from her feet. It was such a fall to the crashing waters below. The rocks at the base looked like snarled fangs. “I am sorry.”

“Why?”

Ahsoka’s brows raised at his question. She glanced at him again and his face was still twisted in anger. “Why wouldn’t I be.”

“You did not say those things.”

“No but…I am associated now with _him_. It feels like sin through association.”

Maul scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “It is not your blame, Ahsoka. If it was, we would not be having this conversation.”

The guilt in her chest lightened at his words. It did not vanish but still…Lightened was better than the heavy anchor it was. She could not stop her eyes from flickering to his cybernetic legs. _Yes, the guilt is still there._ Then there was those other things Lux said about her and Maul…

“I am surprised you are not angry with me for mutilating your little boyfriend” Maul snapped and sat himself on the cliff’s edge, one leg drawn near him, the other dangling over the edge.

Anger flared in her heart, covering the guilt and she felt her own sneer spread across her face. “Oh Force there is so much to unpack with that!” Ahsoka groaned and scuffed her foot across the ground. “Don’t insult me and call him _that_ after I rejected him at least five times please. Do you know how embarrassed I was when he brought up ancient history of us when we were fifteen?! And that’s not even getting into the fucking things that he said.”

“So did you hurt him?” Maul glanced at her, his face guarded.

“Believe me I was tempted!” Ahsoka muttered and sat herself next to him crossing her legs haughtily. “I didn’t realise life would make him so shitty. I mean who has the damn audacity to say shit like that!” Maul snorted and Ahsoka glanced over in time to see his lips twitch upwards. “If I did anything more to him it would not be…equal” Ahsoka considered the word for a moment. “It would be fair if I did, but in the end, I just left him there. Turns out Dedra found him and sent him to the ER. He will never speak properly again.”

“Hm” Maul nodded and the anger in the bond faded slightly. “Serves him right.”

“…You’re not going to go attack him next time you see him, right?”

“Would you try and stop me?”

“It depends” Ahsoka said. “If he deserves it then maybe not.”

“I will find a way” Maul nodded with a slight smile.

“You’re not already making nefarious plans, are you? I thought the mouth was enough.”

“Oh no it is something milder than that, Lady Tano” Maul’s smile flickered into a grin. “I was thinking of making him wax lyrical about how much he misses you. And oh what joy you two would bring to the galaxy, what light- “

Ahsoka punched him in the shoulder, her face flaming red. “If you start that I will throw you off this cliff!”

Maul laughed, his deep voice mixing with the crashes of the waves. “It would not be me saying it my la- “he cut himself off with a sharp cough and his smile flickered away. The bond twitched with irritation and maybe shock?

 _What was he about to say?_ She thought and studied him critically. “Two can play at that game Maul. I bet you have some ex’s in your closet too.”

“An ex?” Maul twisted to stare at her incredulously. “An _ex_! Who do you think I am?”

His reaction was enough to distract her from her thoughts. “Don’t play coy” Ahsoka grinned at him. “I’m not sure how it works for Sith, but I bet there is a few for an old man like you.”

“I am not going to encourage that first train of thought, it will be _you_ going off the cliff in that case!” Maul frowned at her. “But I am not old!”

“You are near middle aged.”

“Thirty-five is not middle aged. Not for a Zabrak.”

“Wait- “Ahsoka gestured her hand in a quick wave. “What do you mean ‘not for a Zabrak’?”

Maul sniffed and easily reclined on one arm as he gazed out into the moons. The barest tint of red was warming the horizon. “If your curiosity is _so_ overwhelming…Zabraks live for near two hundred years.”

“What?!” Ahsoka gaped at him. “That can’t be true…Really?!”

“Yes. One hundred and eighty is the average.”

 _What the fuck!_ Ahsoka stared at him, her eyes looking for any sign of age on his face. There was none, though the tattoos could be hiding it. “Shit…You’re a spring chicken!”

Maul blanched and his coolness transformed into disbelief in a heartbeat. “Do not ever call me that again!”

“But you are!” Ahsoka laughed. “I mean if we are looking at it proportionally, I could be considered older- “

Maul’s hand flexed and Ahsoka yelped as her body floated up in the air and lazily moved over the cliff. The drop to the water was _much_ higher than she thought. “Maul!” Ahsoka yelled. “Let me go!”

“Very poor choice of words.”

“DON’T” she snarled, her hands swinging for the cliff edge.

Maul cackled again and twitched his fingers towards himself. Very slowly, Ahsoka felt her body inch back towards the cliff as if to taunt her that he could drop her at any second. When she finally touched the ground with a muffled thud, she rounded on him with her fists raised. “If you even consider calling me that again, I will let you drop next time. You should learn to respect your elders and betters” Maul said and waved her hand down.

“Betters?!” Ahsoka’s mouth twitched up as she struggled to try and be mad at him. She tried to make herself angry, but deep down she felt like he would never let her fall despite what he said. “That is so rich coming from a Sith lord!”

“Oh it is Sith _lord_ now?” Maul smirked and flicked off a non-existent piece of dirt from his shirt. “You revelled in calling me a half Sith, though I must say I like the change. Maybe I should dangle you off a cliff more often.”

“You’re just getting revenge for when I kicked your ass today” Ahsoka couldn’t stop her smile now. “The day I actually call you a Sith lord is the day I am a Jedi master.”

“I am rather impatient, I do actually think I will be dead from old age by the time you achieve that distasteful goal.”

“The rate you’re going you won’t die from old age.”

“Is that a challenge lady Tano?” Maul raised a tattooed brow coolly.

“Oh yes it might be” Ahsoka folded her arms wrapping herself in an air of haughtiness. “I won’t stop a bought by just kicking you this time.”

Maul huffed and a crooked smile twitched up from his lips. And as she saw it, something rose in her heart like the tickling wings of a butterfly. A struggling feeling of warm emotions fluttering here and there. She realised that smile only showed when it was just the two of them. Maul’s sunburst eyes returned to the setting moons before them, veiled in a glow of gold that did not quite compare to the gold of his own. His eyes softened as they lingered on her and then those strange feelings of his grew just slightly as he traced her face over into memory. Ahsoka briefly wondered what she looked like in the sun and moonlight. Then his eyes drifted far into the horizon where his thoughts lay.

“These moons remind me of an old tale on Dathomir” he muttered.

“An old tale?” Ahsoka asked.

He nodded and sat up from his reclined spot. “Yes. The Night Brothers worship the old gods unlike the Night sisters. So many of their stories were bound in our moons, though there was only two of them.”

“I wish I had stories of my home planet, Shili. I never got the chance to learn them since I was in the Jedi order” Ahsoka said with a touch of bitterness. “How did you learn your stories?”

“…” Maul’s eyes changed again. Regret, sadness and loneliness shone in a film that reflected the light of the sunrise before them. “They were songs. And my brother taught me them.”

 _Oh._ Ahsoka had heard so little of Savage Opress, all she knew was all the Obi-Wan described. None of it was good. But then…He had saved Maul from Lotho Minor and stayed by his side until his own bitter end. Ahsoka realised she wanted to know more about Savage, and then, more about Maul. “Maybe you could sing them for me one day” she said softly.

Maul’s face twisted drastically. The brief softness was slammed away as if he realised, he let something vulnerable show. Dark and fierce anger replaced it and Ahsoka jolted as that anger was directed at _her._ “Do you ever think to wonder that you ask too much. That you presume too much!” he hissed and got to his feet.

“Wait!” Ahsoka stood up quickly as Maul strode away. “I didn’t realise- “

“Do not follow me!” Maul roared. “If you see any of those fucking TIE fighters only then contact me!”

With that the half Sith left her on the cliff edge, the red-gold rays of the sun glinting on his horns and bring the colour of his skin back to life. The gentle butterflies in her stomach died completely. “Argh!” Ahsoka groaned and slapped her forehead. _What were you thinking! Of course he would say that!_ Maybe it was because she was tired, maybe it was because of Lux or maybe it was because she found herself actually smiling and feeling happy for the first time in weeks. But she made the crucial mistake of forgetting how Maul reacted when she caught him singing for the first time after Belderone. _But how do I even apologise for wanting to hear him sing! It’s not like_ I _did anything wrong and-_

The bushes behind her rustled and Ahsoka rounded, hoping against hope that Maul changed his mind and came back. A lithe and graceful figure slunk out from beneath the tree eaves and Asajj Ventress flicked back her cowl revealing a gleeful smile. “Oh my…” she crooned. “I _never_ expected this.”

“What are you doing here Ventress?!” Ahsoka snarled. She was so distracted by Maul she did not even consider someone would approach.

“Returning from some useless reconnaissance” Asajj’s grin did not fade as she walked up to Ahsoka. “But _that_ was absolutely delicious thing to watch. It all makes sense now Tano.”

“Shouldn’t you be running back to Saw then” Ahsoka’s gut twisted and she grit bared her teeth. “And what are you talking about?!” she bit out.

“Oh thank you, it gives me such a thrill to say it out loud” Asajj suddenly laughed. “You and Darth Maul, that is not a romance I would’ve even considered my dear. You _like_ him.”

Horror gripped Ahsoka’s stomach into a tighter knot and she felt the blood drain from her face. “No…” she muttered, stepping away from the Sith assassin. “That’s not what it is.”

“Oh yes that is why you were making big soapy eyes with him and giggling like a padawan at his every quip. I have never seen him smile before, I didn’t think him capable with a face like that. It looks like he is a carved statue made for glowers, snarls and frowns. A _very_ handsome one though my dear.”

“Stop it” Ahsoka whispered. “He is just my friend.” Her heart began to race in her chest. _I wasn’t- we weren’t_ doing _that! We were just talking and then…_ She began to grip her fingers nervously and twist them together. _He is a Sith!_

“Ah what a setting too!” Asajj cast her hands out to the ocean before them. “A lovely walk down the cliffs beneath the rising sun and the setting moons. It was the perfect mood…You just had to ruin it by bringing _singing_ of all things up. I wonder why that put him off?” She dropped her hands and gave Ahsoka a knowing smile. “You have taste commander Tano. Night brothers are loyal and pleasing. Their prowess in bed is- “

“Stop it!” Ahsoka snarled. She forced a deep breath of air into her lungs and breathed out slowly. After a few breaths, her heart began to slow. _First Lux and now Ventress?! This is stupid!_ “I didn’t know you resorted to idle fantasies to pass the time Ventress” Ahsoka said scathingly. “Do you care so little about the Partisans that you use your free time to make up little stories like _that_?”

“Oh do not worry about my commitment my dear. I am as invested as you are” her smile turned hard and all at once the mocking light was gone from her eyes. “As long as it is beneficial for me…And the benefits are running out.”

Ahsoka caught her change in tone like she caught a blaster bolt on her saber. She was not talking about her or Maul any longer. “What do you mean?”

Asajj eyed her for a moment longer and then leaned in over her montrals. “We have a spy among us.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys tell I had fun with this chapter? because I had fun. Now I know Lux probably isn't that big of a cunt but for plot he is today. As you can see things are brewing in the horizon...Also I have had quite a few comments from readers saying that they didn't think they would like Maulsoka until they read this fic. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, I know this ship isn't for everyone and it is understandably problematic but thank you for giving it a shot <3 Now for what you have all been waiting for...The memes.  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Lux: *points at Maul* That's why your shoes raggedy  
> Maul: That's why your mama dead. Dead as hell. What shoes she got on in her casket?  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
> Ventress: I knew it! I fucking knew it!  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Maul and Ahsoka: *staring into each others eyes in front of the sunrise*  
> Ventress: I can see what's happening...And they haven't got a clue! They will fall in love and here's the bottom line  
>  Our trio is down to two. Can you feel the love tonight.........  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by Nord VPN! 
> 
> Haha hi guys, glad the chapter is here! I am genuinely sorry it took so long. I was struggling with some mental health and needed some time to myself before I worked on anything. Don't worry, I'm fine and I'm back on the grind. So enjoy the chapter! The next one coming is...Something alright.

Ahsoka froze and whatever bizarre thoughts Asajj planted in her head of herself and Maul vanished in a heartbeat. _A spy._ The gears in her head ticked over one by one. _There is a spy in the Partisans._ Her hands clenched into fists by her side. “Are you sure?”

Asajj grimaced and folded her arms in contempt. “I’ve suspected for a long while. Hits that were planed and full proof strangely go wrong more and more frequently now. Clones are not patrolling places we have confirmed they are. Scouts fail to return to base and we cannot contact them. Even raids that are planned turn on our heads as _we_ are the ones ambushed. There is no way they would know all of this from Partisans captured. No, I’m certain there is a traitor among us.”

“Have you told Saw?”

“Briefly but he always tells me I’m wrong!” Ventress spat. “He trusts his soldiers too much. Thinks they are all loyal to the cause.”

“Shit” Ahsoka swore under her breath. With the way Saw has been acting it would be hard maybe even dangerous to tell him the last thing he wants to hear. “Do you know who?!”

“If I knew, he or she would already be dead.”

A dark little thought suddenly sprang into Ahsoka’s mind making a chill creep up her spine. _What if the person knows who me and Maul are?_ Ahsoka shivered and fingered her saber uneasily. “I need to talk to Maul.”

“Yes, yes summon your Sith boyfriend that’s sure to be a lovely experience!” Asajj growled venomously.

Ahsoka rounded on her immediately, her teeth bared in a silent snarl. “He needs to fucking know. And don’t you dare spout any of that Zillo shit you were saying!”

Asajj rolled her eyes. “So the little commander says. But if there was not even a sliver of truth to it, you would not care what I say.”

“Keep that up and you’re going to be the second person Maul curb stomps today.” she muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Doesn’t matter but check in with Lux when you have the time.” Asajj kept repeating her questions over and over but Ahsoka easily ignored her and touched the bond in the back of her mind.

Two golden eyes lit up immediately. _“Have you found the fighters?”_

 _“_ … _No”_ she replied.

_“I told you not to contact me until- “_

_“Shut up, this is more important_. _”_

The bond wriggled in anger and Ahsoka rolled her eyes. There was a plus side to it though, that anger was burning away the awkward feelings in her chest that he made. _“We have a problem.”_

 _“And what would that be?!”_ Maul spat.

_“Just come back, we need to tell you in person.”_

_“We?”_

_“Ventress is here.”_

Maul swore a dark oath crass enough to make Ahsoka wince. She didn’t think he was aware that he was muttering in Dathomirian across their bond but waited with quickly failing patience until the strange words ended. _“You finished?”_

 _“I will be there soon!”_ With that those golden eyes faded and Ahsoka sighed wearily. It had been a long night.

“What was that?” Asajj’s voice was sharp in her montrals.

“What was what?” Ahsoka growled and turned back to her.

“You just stared off into space, muttering something about angry men. I thought you said you were going to contact that _heathen_.”

“I did- “Ahsoka couldn’t stop the words as they fell out of her mouth. She winced and turned away from Asajj who raised an eyebrow coolly.

“You did? I saw no such thing.”

“I typed him a message on my communicator…” she lied.

“Really. You didn’t even look at it let alone touch it.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Ahsoka snapped. “He’s coming over.”

“Joy” Asajj muttered and folded her arms tersely. But her eyes were brimmed with suspicion that made Ahsoka curse herself on the inside for being so careless. The thought of someone knowing about her connection to Maul made her decidedly defensive. There was a small amount of fear in her eyes too. Asajj tried to avoid Maul as much as possible, though neither party was going to tell her why. She had a feeling it had something to do with Savage though. Maybe one day, one of them would tell her.

Ahsoka heard the heavy footfalls of her friend before she saw his silhouette rounding the corner of the cliff face. Not caring for Asajj, Ahsoka easily walked to meet him, her lip twitching as the Sith assassin hissed between her teeth and followed. _At least he won’t be angry with me now…_ Maul’s eyes flickered to her briefly before they homed in on Asajj, putting a rancor’s glare to shame.

“Tell him what you told me” Ahsoka ordered.

Asajj’s face was tight as she fingered a saber, being very careful to not meet Maul’s hard eyes for longer than necessary. She bit out what she told Ahsoka, more or less and her fingers flinched more and more on her weapon as Maul’s eyes turned deadly furious.

“A traitor…” Maul grunted with a sneer. “You will tell me how long you have known!”

“Long enough to be sure!” Asajj replied.

Maul cursed again and turned to Ahsoka. “This is not good!”

“You don’t need to tell me that.”

“This is not good for _us_ ” Maul’s head tilted as he peered at her. “This person may know who we are and can turn Sidious’ eyes directly onto us. We are _not_ ready for that!”

“I know, I had the same thought” Ahsoka said and folded her arms with a shiver.

“We must leave- “

“I know you were going to say that” she cut in an raised her hand peacefully as his eyes furrowed in anger. “But we can’t. Not just yet.”

Maul stared at her incredulously, his jaw working tightly until Asajj caught the corner of his eye. He eyed her with a sneer and looked back at Ahsoka. “We will discuss this in private.”

Ahsoka lip curled sourly as she nodded. _Here comes another fucking argument!_ She thought bitterly. But she had expected this. She quickly began to form a plan in her mind for a solid argument. Maul would not be bullied into staying, in fact, it will be near impossible to do that. She began to run over her plan in her mind when Ventress spoke.

“I am in just as much danger as both of you, I agree that leaving is the best course- “

“Who asked you?!” Ahsoka and Maul said at the same time. Maul’s golden eyes twitched at Ahsoka with mild amusement before they burned back into Asajj.

“In what circumstance did you ever think that you were aligned with _us_?” Maul hissed. Asajj glanced at Ahsoka nervously as Maul strode over until he loomed above her, his eyes burning with fury. Ahsoka did nothing but watched the saber at his side warily. It would not do if he sent another of Saw’s Partisans to the infirmary.

“In the circumstance that you fail to admit!” Asajj’s voice was bravely calm and she met him eye for eye. “All of us are the same here. We are failed apprentices. We were betrayed by our masters. We walked around with bloody targets on our back the second _your_ master took Jedi lives and stole the galaxy from beneath republican senators feet.”

Asajj looked away to brush off the shoulders of her armoured shirt and when she looked back up into Maul’s eyes, her own were ice. “I am agreeing with _you_. No more than that. If you blindly follow Tano and stick with this failing militia to the bitter end one or both of you will die. She has a habit of latching on to lost causes.”

Ahsoka’s cheek heated with anger but she forced her face to become smooth. “That’s funny” she scoffed. “I remember that you were on the losing side of the Clone Wars, Ventress.”

“Oh don’t lie to yourself now!” Asajj tore her eyes off Maul for a second to glare at her. “We were in a fucking stalemate. The only person who won was the Sith lord controlling us both. But this is not the point” she said condescendingly. She looked back into Maul’s eyes. The bond was still wriggling with anger, but who’s anger it was Ahsoka could not tell. “Stay and die or leave and struggle a little while longer. I know which one is the sane choice.”

Maul who was silent for her tirade pulled his lips apart in a menacing smile. “Then why are you not gone, _Go’thraydram_?”

Ahsoka’s montrals prickled at the venom in the Dathomirian word and Ventress blanched as if struck by it. The half Jedi stared as Ventress worked her jaw and looked away with hatred in her eyes. _What did he call her?_ Maybe Maul would tell her.

“I know better than to just betray a person I know. My master taught me that lesson” with those words hanging in the cool morning air, the Sith Assassin turned and strode off into the shadowed canopy of the jungle. Maul watched her go with poison in his eyes that hardly dimmed as Ahsoka crept up to him.

“You are a fucking liar!” Maul hissed at her back, his hands bunching into fists.

“Maul?” she said and gently touched his wrist. “Are…Are you okay?”

“She is a liar!” Maul repeated.

“I know” Ahsoka said making her voice soft and soothing. “I always take what she says with a grain of salt. We don’t have to listen to her anymore. Yeah? She said what she had to say and that’s that.”

Maul said nothing but that sneer on his face did not leave the jungle for an instant. Something told her this was not the right time to ask, yet her curiosity could not help itself. “What does _Go’thray-_ What does _Go’thraydram_ mean?” she tripped over that strange word.

It was then that Maul looked at her, his eyes catching the light of the rising sun brilliantly. His sneer rolled into a grimace. “It means ‘blood traitor’ or ‘clan traitor’ in common” he muttered.

 _Blood traitor?_ Ahsoka gaped at him. “Is she related to you?!” she whispered, her stomach curdling at the thought.

“Force no!” Maul swore. “We do not share our parents but our clan.”

“Oh” Ahsoka could scarcely keep the relief from her voice, but the knot in her stomach lessened slightly. “I…” she paused, licking her lips. This time she restrained the curiosity that had snagged her tongue. Now was _not_ that time to ask what Ventress did, not while Maul was as angry as he is now. There was brief glimpses she had into their history, but they hardly unveiled anything at all. She just knew that it had to be something to do with Savage Opress. Her interest in Maul’s brother was steadily growing more and more each time he was mentioned or even alluded to. “You said you wanted to talk in private. Now is probably the only time we will have until Saw hears about this traitor.”

Maul grunted again and pulled his hand away from hers, making her blink in surprise and a little embarrassment. She was not aware that she had still been touching it. “There was one thing the bitch was right about if this traitor is not real. You want to stay here” he stated with a tilt of his head. 

“Yes” Ahsoka said simply.

Maul sighed and pinched between his tattooed brows. “Let me guess. You refuse to give up on Saw.”

“Actually no, not really” Ahsoka’s lips turned down as she remembered how Saw treated her compared to others. “He’s been dismissive of me and my ideas and he’s been downright unpleasant right now. It’s only going to get worse once he hears about this _spy_.”

“He has been cordial with me.”

“Yes and it makes no damn sense!” Ahsoka gestured erratically, her voice biting into the quiet sunrise. “No offense. But he doesn’t know you and yet he treats you far better than me. I’m the one who fucking trained him to be the person he is now!”

“Perhaps it is because there is some aspects to his command that you would not agree with or like” Maul folded his arms and eyed her critically. “You are somewhat merciful for a commander.”

“Look it’s not that I am unaware that leaders have to make hard decisions. But that’s beside the point. Saw wants to protect the people, his people. And that I understand.”

“So you want to risk your life for people you do not even know?”

“We will be risking our lives for trillions of people when we fight Sidious.”

Maul sighed again and rolled his eyes. “Do not go off track. That fight may be years from now and it may be more than just one fight if we are not somewhat fortunate. Be that as it may _we_ did not actually come here to help a failing militia. Remember? We came here to find information and try to grasp the climate of the galaxy right now. All we have been given is useless propaganda on a restricted planet nearly in civil war.”

“So what? You just want to jump ship and float aimlessly to find a better opportunity then the one right in front of us?”

“Ahsoka, there _is_ better opportunities before us. You forget the Shadow Collective.”

Ahsoka’s mouth pulled down in a grimace. “I don’t particularly want to be affiliated with a crime syndicate, Maul.”

“If you consider that anyone who rebels is an enemy of the empire, then rebels themselves are a crime syndicate with a different flavour.”

Ahsoka’s grimace morphed into a frown and she scuffed her boot irritably across the loose pebbles. He always had something painfully accurate to say when they disagreed. “If that is the case why did you flee them? Why bother with this” she gestured to the ground beneath her feet and then herself. “With me?”

“It was _not_ fleeing” Maul growled. “My departure was planned with the heads of the families whose loyalty is paramount. As soon as I had those visions on Mandalore, I knew that my public appearance would summon Sidious all too immediately once he took over. My departure was planned just as my return is planned.”

“Are you not concerned by public appearance anymore?”

“No. Not if I rule in the shadows, not if there is a face covering mine.”

“A puppet?!” Ahsoka gaped at him. “You would use someone against their will for this?!”

“Of course not, give me more credit than that!” Maul glared at her. “The success of that would rely on the third party being fully aware of their position and mine. I would need someone who is steadfast under Imperial scrutiny but is aware of where the true power lays.”

 _That does not sound like a fair deal at all!_ Ahsoka folded her arms across her chest. “Then why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

“Because _you_ were the uncertain outlier” Maul stepped towards her, narrowing the gap until Ahsoka had to crane her neck to meet his eyes. “I need the Shadow Collective. But I also need you” he muttered.

Her fingers fluttered against her arms, her chest tugging slightly with warm butterflies. “You’ve told me that before…In different words” softly, she said. 

“Then I do not need to tell you again” the timbre of Maul’s voice rumbled in its own soft way. “I never expected you to…like this option. But then again, I never expected this bond. Or for you to call me a friend.” Maul frown stayed but his hand reached and brushed against her montrals. They were warm. Surprise and a stew of emotions froze her body in place as two leaves floated down. Her chest thudded again stronger than before.

“That is rather presumptuous of you to think I could grow to like that option” her eyes tracked Maul’s hand as it moved to his side again. He was so close. She would only need to lean in to brush her face against his chest. Her mouth went dry as she realised, she was so tempted to do that.

Maul laughed sonorously and it eclipsed the anger in his eyes that Asajj left just for a moment. “Then perhaps to accept a quicker end to Sidious’ reign.”

Ahsoka pressed her lips together and tore her eyes away from his. They were too much now, with these feelings stirring within. _This is wrong…I shouldn’t._ Asajj’s words echoed in her mind. Her heart froze. _That bitch. Damn her!_ She shook her head, banishing the thoughts if only for a little while. “Give this some more time. Not much, I know we are in danger. Let’s try to get that transmitter out of the way and see if we can access real information. Only Saw, Lux and Ventress know who we are. They can’t afford to lose us. After that…We can go.”

“More time for the Partisans is more time for the Empire.”

“No more than a day. No more than that.” Ahsoka cautiously looked back into his eyes and there was no anger there for her, only chaotic contemplation. _He’s considering it…_ Swallowing away her dry mouth, her hand nearly shook as she reached and touched the wall that was his shoulder and chest. Surprise echoed in the bond and…those emotions again. She wanted to know them and understand them so badly. “The best information in the galaxy would come from them” she pointed up into the golden sky. “Give me a day to take out the transmitter and we will have it.”

“And what of the people here you so desperately want to save?” Maul said, his eyes flickering to her hand erratically. 

“I still want to save them. But it lies with Saw.”

“What do you propose?”

“There are five Star Destroyers above us with over tens of thousands of Clones. I don’t have an exact number of how many Partisans there are, but it’s not enough. The only reason why there are deaths and those fire worms on planet is because of Saw’s rebellion. I want to convince him to go off grid. Not permanently, this planet is theirs not the Empires. But just long enough to gather allies and a real strategy to fight them. That will stop the deaths for a while at least.”

“You have a lot of faith in Saw and those Clones that the deaths will stop.”

“Saw may be different but I still believe he can see reason. Your input may help too.”

Maul sighed and hesitantly, Ahsoka took her hand off of him. His eyes roamed over her face and then the sunrise, calculating the risk and the reward. She could almost hear an abacus clatter behind his eyes. Eventually her rolled his jaw and looked at her again when the communicators on both of their forearms chimed, breaking the natural noises. The pair only spared a knowing glance between each other before they both activated them.

Static crackled for a moment. “Oi, are ye lot together still?” Dedra’s heavy accent boomed from the small speakers.

“Yes” Ahsoka replied and glanced at Maul again. His teeth were grinding behind his firmly pressed lips.

“Aight…Hold off the capture for now. You’re needed back down here. Saw wants to speak with all of us.” There was a grim tone to his voice.

“I think we know what this is about” Ahsoka muttered. “We will be back soon.”

“Hurry. The general is _not_ in the best of moods.”

“Figured as much” Ahsoka sighed. “See you down there Dedra.”

“Right ye are, love.”

When the communicator went silent, Ahsoka turned fully back to Maul, waiting for his answer. “You have your day” Maul growled, his eyes flashing. “Do not waste it.”

“And if I ask for your help?”

“Depending on what it is…You will have it” Maul began to walk back down the coastline, his hands clasped behind his back. Ahsoka smiled with relief and eagerly caught up to walk by his side. She did not say anything, less a stray word changes his fragile opinion on the matter. They walked back and a grimness settled upon the two as the entered the elevator. When the doors parted the soldiers that cloistered the hall were all gone without even a boot smear to mark their presence. For the first time since Ahsoka came down into the Partisan headquarters, the corridors were silent.

When the two approached the corridor leading to Saw’s office, Dedra was leaning against the wall, his eyes setting on them immediately. They were dark and angry. “Ello you two” he grumbled and met them halfway. “Good you came so soon. Better to get this over and done with, aye?”

“What is his temperament like?” Ahsoka asked cautiously.

“Ah, did Asajj tell you what has happened?”

“Yes” Maul responded.

“Well…As bad as ye could expect it to be. Don’ expect him to be pleasant” with that he turned and lead the pair away.

“How high do you reckon your chances now?” Maul muttered to Ahsoka.

“Whether I tell him today or tomorrow it doesn’t make a difference. Better get it done with now.”

Maul only grunted in response. “A wee little update before we go on in” Dedra called over his shoulder. “We ‘ave captured two Clones from a group south west of ‘ere. They were patrolling one of the villages along our supply line. If ye lot still want to find those TIE fighters, there would be your best bet.”

Rex’s face flashed before her eyes setting ice in her stomach. She knew those Clones could not be him…But a thin tendril of doubt seeped into her mind. _Did he ever escape the frigate?_ What could she do if he was here? The bond in her mind tugged and when Ahsoka looked over, Maul’s eyes were focused on her, analysing her emotions. “I am fine” she mouthed, and he quirked a brow dubiously. When the two doors to Saw’s apartments slid open, shouting and chaos erupted outwards, swamping the trio.

“-Damn you Asajj! Do you have any fucking proof?!” Saw roared at the tall Sith Assassin. Her face twisted in a feral snarl.

“Go look at the body bags yourself you fool! How the fuck did the Clones know where we are? Our strategies, intel and resources are locked up tighter than a nun’s cunt. There is no-fucking-way- “Ventress slammed her fist on the table with each word. “- That they guessed where the hell we were!”

“My men are loyal” Saw snarled back. “They would never betray the cause!”

“Are you blind, Saw?! If they knew _half_ the shit that I do, you’d be knee deep in spies reporting to the Empire!” 

A vein in Saw Gerrera’s temple popped as his face turned a burning crimson. His fists shook as he pressed them against the table. “Lies. Deception!” he hissed. “They _know_ we do whatever it takes for liberation.”

“Saw” Ahsoka spoke, her voice iron. “What do you mean by that?”

Saw’s blue eyes were ice chips as they rounded on her. He grit his teeth together like her was trying very hard not to lash out at her with his venomous tongue. “Close the door!” he seethed.

The tension in the room grew into and oppressive blanket as Dedra closed the door behind the three. It could nearly be cut. Ignoring it, Ahsoka walked to Ventress’ side. Saw’s eyes flickered around the room, staring at each person with eyes like scalpels. Ahsoka, Maul and Ventress did not flinch under his stare but Dedra’s mouth pressed thin and he folded his arms defensively.

“You all know what Asajj had to say?” the human spoke suddenly.

“Yes” Ahsoka said. “Saw…I think she is right.”

“Oh okay, so do you have the evidence she lacks?!” he snapped. Scowling, Saw pressed some buttons on the side of the table and the map Ahsoka, Maul and Dedra looked at last night appeared again. “Look at this. Go on look!” he thrust his fingers at large clusters of yellow dots, the majority of which surrounded the distant cities and villages leading into the jungle. “That’s the Empire. If we had a spy leaking information, they’d be on top of our heads right this second!”

“Saw, just because they aren’t bringing the roof down on us right now doesn’t mean they don’t know every crucial aspect of the Partisans.”

“You don’t know what the Empire is like!” Saw abruptly shouted at her, the muscle on the side of his jaw twitching in a jig. “You don’t know how they manipulate everything until you question information you see right in front of you!”

“I know everything about the Empire!” Ahsoka shouted back, her sharp teeth bared. “Those were _my_ boys up there that you’re fighting. Those were _my_ men. I know everything about them from their education to how they fight. They are patient Saw!”

“There is still no damn proof!” Saw bellowed, slapping his hand through the map and onto the table with a bang.

“How is it that they found your supply lines then?” Maul spoke up and walked over to Ahsoka’s side. “Or the fact that your men are dying when they should not be? If your men are as well trained as you say they are, the casualties would be much lower.”

“There is more at play in this fight than the _idea_ of a traitor.”

“Stop being an idiot!” Maul snapped and leaned over the table. Saw’s teeth grit together but he kept silent. “Being wilfully ignorant is not going to fix your failing effort. It is going to make it worse.”

Saw’s breath hissed out his nose as he dragged a hand down his face, pulling his bushy hair. “It doesn’t…It can’t be true! But I don’t know…Maybe you’re right.”

The temper Ahsoka had been holding with the edges of her nails slipped out from beneath her. “What the fuck!” she snarled. “Why is it that when _he_ tells you the same things we have, you suddenly pay fucking attention?!”

Saw’s cold eyes snapped to her immediately. “Maybe because _he_ understands what _this_ is like!”

“Understands? _Understands_! Who do you think I am? I was a commander in the republican army. I fought battles across the galaxy. I fucking trained _you_ , Saw! I have been fighting years longer than you! If there is anyone’s opinion that you should consider it is mine. You don’t even know him!”

“I know that his morals are more in line with mine!” Saw bellowed. “And you- “

“If someone talks about me again like I am not in the room I will split their skull!” Maul said with venom. Asajj sighed and her face tilted down to the table, her eyes pinched shut. Maul seemed to have that effect on her. The half Sith’s yellow eyes swivelled to Ahsoka. She was not quite exempt from this rule. A silence filled the room and Ahsoka looked around to find all eyes switching between her and Saw. The tension was liquid cement around them.

“Hh” Saw sighed and pressed his knuckles onto the table, his eyes roaming the map. “I don’t want it to be true. I don’t.” His eyes returned to Ahsoka, still chips of ice. “But you’re right. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.” Ahsoka bristled, her fingers clenching tightly to her belt. _What a Zillo shit apology._ He didn’t even apologise for his actions, just that her feelings _could_ have been hurt. Which they were though she could hardly even admit that to herself.

“Are you willing to listen to what I have to say?” she chewed out.

“Don’t make this a lecture” Saw replied.

“This is not a lecture! This is a way, maybe at this point the only way you can save your rebellion.” Saw’s snarl appeared immediately. Before he could get a word out, Ahsoka raised her hand in a warning. “Let me finish!” Saw grimaced, trying to force words back down his throat before he nodded reluctantly.

 _Good_. “There is a spy in your ranks. Your people are dying, the planet has all but yielded to the Empire. There are five star-destroyers above us right now and I’ll be damned if there aren’t more on standby waiting to join them. You have a way out of this.”

“Yes! Taking out the transmission block will- “

“That would help, yes, but it won’t push the fight in your direction. Not any longer.” Her eyes roamed around the room, marking each person who listened into their conversation. _Could the spy even be among us? No. The person would have been found out long before. Even Saw can’t have missed them._ “You need to retreat, Saw. Go off the grid maybe even off planet until you _do_ have the resources to continue. We have no clue how much the enemy already knows.”

“Give up?! Are you seriously telling me to give up?!” emotion after emotion flickered across his face. From rage to hate to fear and then despair. His hands twitched up to his hair and fisted it into ropes around his fingers.

“This is not giving up” Ahsoka forced some gentleness into her voice and soothed the rest of it away with a delicate swivel of her hand. “A war is not always won in the first act. Sometimes it takes several. The Clone Army had to win back Geonosis twice. There is no shame in taking the time to win the fight and secure Onderon.”

“No- no I won’t- “

“Will you still be saying that when those Clones have swarmed this place and dragged you on your knees to the Emperor?” Maul said. Saw began to pace back and forth down the small room, all while his hands ripped at his hair. “Lady Tano is correct.”

“We find the damn spy!” Saw spat. “We find them! Find them and learn all they told. We revolutionise how we fight. We change it all and then- then the Empire will be on the retreat! Then- “

“The damage is already done” Dedra spoke for the first time, his heavy brough turning all eyes but Saw’s to him. “Look at our numbers. Even _if_ we find this here traitor, we don’ have the soldiers or the supplies. We cannae do what ye want.”

“Why haven’t you told me this before?!” Saw replied, spit flying from his mouth.

“I have” Ventress muttered, her face slowly lifting back up to meet Saw’s. It was harder than stone. “You just didn’t listen.” 

Saw Gerrera’s breath began to labour like bellows in a forge. He span around and stared at his monitors showing corridors in a cold white glow and the faces of soldiers, their faces pinched with fear. “Steela…I- “he swallowed. A shiver ran up Ahsoka’s spine at the name.

“Saw” Ahsoka walked over to him and touched his shoulder gently. “Take a few minutes for yourself then make a decision. I understand how hard this is.”

“Do you?” he whispered.

Ahsoka squeezed his shoulder and stepped away, her lips twisting down. “I do.”

Saw sighed and without turning around he addressed the group. “Go. All of you go. When I need you, I will call.”

“Aight general” Dedra nodded his head to the door. All four of them left quietly but the heavy tension did not dissipate as they left the room. The four parted separate ways upon Maul saying he needed to speak with Ahsoka. As they left, Ventress half listening to whatever Dedra was telling her shot Ahsoka a parting smirk, her eyes dancing between herself and the half Sith. She just scowled and turned her back to her with a nose held high in the air.

“Well that went as good as I expected.” The fact that Saw listened was a success to her. With so many experienced people telling him the same thing he was sure to act on their suggestion.

“Why is _she_ looking at you like that?” Maul asked. He refused to say Ventress’ name.

“No good reason” Ahsoka felt her face flush and awkwardly looked at the ground. “I take it you want to talk about the transmission blocker?”

“You still have a day.”

“Yeah…Dedra said that there is good opportunity in one of the villages south of here.”

“There could very well be. However, that is not what is on your mind as of yet.”

“No. I was thinking about the Clones they captured…”

Maul sighed, his deep voice bouncing off the stark walls. “Do you think they are some of your…friends?”

“I hope they aren’t” Ahsoka replied seriously. “They could also have information that Partisans wouldn’t think to look for.”

“Regarding what?”

“Wider galactic movements. Information on any rebellions. Maybe even Sidious.”

Maul suddenly laughed, the walls echoing the raucous noise long after it ended. “Sidious would never allow mere foot soldiers to know anything about him. That is a lost cause.”

“I’m still going to question them.”

“And how will you do that? They could recognise you.”

“I will use the Force to make them forget me. I don’t like doing it, but it must be done.”

“Saw will very likely have them killed after questioning.”

“He may ransom them.”

“Ransom a Clone when there is millions of others exactly the same in the galaxy? Not likely Lady Tano.” 

“I’m trying not to think about that possibility, Maul!” Ahsoka snapped. The two ended their walk outside their rooms, each with their backs to the respective doors. Ahsoka sighed and leaned back against it. “But you did say you would be willing to help me.”

“Depending on the circumstances.”

“Hmm” Ahsoka nodded and tapped her finger to her lip. Maul watched her intently, his bright eyes roaming over her face. “The two of us don’t need to be there for the questioning.”

“Obviously.”

“I want you to go to the village that Dedra mentioned and scope it out.”

Maul raised a brow and propped his boot up against the wall behind him, leaning back nonchalantly. “You want me to go to a Clone infested village where my face may also be recognised?”

“You do have a very distinct face” Ahsoka mused and smiled as he sneered. “Dedra didn’t say it was infested. He said it was were they found the two Clones. That must be barely an hour ago. I doubt there is many troopers there and if they are, I have faith in your abilities to not be caught.”

“How kind of you” Maul scowled and folded his arms.

“If you can confirm that there is a TIE ship there and I can get any information at all from the Clones, we can get the transmission blocker. All that information will be at our fingertips.”

“And what of this spy? They may know what we are trying to achieve.”

“I refuse to believe that the spy is anything greater than a foot soldier. If he or she was, then even Saw would not be so blind to them. A lot more valuable information would have been leaked including our names most likely. Then we really would have the roof falling on our heads with blaster fire” Ahsoka grimaced. “We should probably go forward with different names from now on.”

“I agree…” Maul drummed his fingers against his bracer and blinked slowly. His eyes looked heavy.

“You’re tired” Ahsoka said softly.

His eyes snapped back to hers tightly. “I am not even remotely fatigued” he growled. Ahsoka wondered if he was lying, she didn’t have the knack yet of knowing. As if her comment spurred him on, he pushed himself off from the wall and shrugged his shoulders. “I have decided to go to this village. I want to get off this damn planet soon.”

Ahsoka hid her growing smile with a brush of her hand. He wouldn’t appreciate seeing her so gleeful especially when he acted as if this reconnaissance was all his idea. The bond twitched with ire and she knew her amusement did not go unnoticed. “Okay. I will go to these Clones. Hopefully they can tell me something useful…” The idea that they could be the exact same as the Clones on the frigate- all devoid of their individual and unique personalities made her feel sick to her stomach. “Please keep in contact with me.”

“Do you enjoy my company so much that you would miss me for an hour?” Maul smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

“Don’t be obnoxious” Ahsoka flustered. “I need something to beat my frustrations out on.”

“You keep saying that and I will return the sentiment.”

Ahsoka scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest to stop the fluttering. “When we get off planet.”

“Hm” Maul hummed and began to walk down the hall. “You only have the day. Find your answers, Ahsoka.”

“Don’t do anything dumb!” Ahsoka called to his back.

“Do I look- “Maul rounded on her. Ahsoka felt her lips twitch and Maul sighed before turning back around. “You should tell that to yourself…” he grumbled and marched down the hall with more vigour than before.

Ahsoka’s smile faltered and she drummed her fingers across her saber anxiously. “It can easily be done” she said to herself.

She turned around and began to walk back the way they came, towards Saw’s office. _The holding cells was somewhere close by…I think._ That was the one place she refused to investigate during her stay with the Partisans. With how bad the soldier’s conditions was after combat she could only imagine what prisoners were being put through from vengeful members. She knew Lux tried to stamp down any foul play, but he was only one man. And now he was in the ER. _I should’ve taken him up on his tour…_ She thought as she rounded a corner. _I wouldn’t have to stumble around like this!_ _Why isn’t there more soldiers here?_ She was still in the area where mainly important members ventured, but the stark absence of people was…off-putting. 

Up ahead of her the white pearlescent doors of a med bay beckoned her forwards. The sounds of people, surviving or dying thinly permeating through durasteel doors. It was the first sign of life after leaving Maul she had found. The doors parted before her, revealing mostly empty cots and a few nurses and doctors milling around with exhaustion creasing their faces. The cots that were filled held people groaning with severed limbs and grotesque black veins mapping over the exposed parts of their body. Ahsoka shivered and hurried along to an elderly human doctor, the same dark complexion as Saw with her hair tied up into a neat bun.

“Hello” Ahsoka did not smile, not in this room. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something.”

“No one has been dying for the last five minutes so…No you’re not” the woman said grimly but she turned to Ahsoka and gave her, her full attention. “Are you injured? What can I help you with?”

“I am not injured” Ahsoka waved her hand dismissively. “I’m actually looking for the holding cells. Are they nearby?”

“Oh you’re a long way from those missy” the woman sighed. “You should have turned left at the Gate not right.”

“Oh” Ahsoka grimaced and made to turn around. “Thank you, sorry for interrupting- “

“Due to the nature of those…cells we had to devise a route from them to the morgue. It would be quicker for you to go through the morgue.”

“…Okay. Where is that?”

“Go through the back their and take the right at the end of the room. Follow the hallway and take the third left. That will be the morgue. There will be two more exits there, the first leads to the holding cells. It will be a walk but still quicker than going back.”

Ahsoka nodded and catalogued the directions. “Thank you” she gratefully smiled. “I will leave you to your work.”

“Try not to breath in too much in there. We’ve had to burn a lot…too many people recently.”

Ahsoka’s smile faltered off her face but she nodded again and without another word hurried along to the closed off room at the end of the med bay. 

The back room was a room that made her quicken her step. It was a makeshift surgery room. A warden tottered around and pulled bloodied bedsheets off the surgery table. Surgery tools with congealing fluid were scattered around on trays beneath a lone flickering light bulb. She did not envy whoever had to be treated in this room. And the smell…

She hurried through the door on the right and followed the dimly lit hallway, her face set in grim determination. _I will just ask questions and if they refuse to answer I will leave it at that!_ She knew her boys. They hardly ever crack under interrogation unless the worst off the worst methods were used. She could never bear to put them through that. _Force if it’s Rex, Jessie, or Cody…No It can’t be them. If I don’t find anything then I will join Maul and-_ A faint whiff of acidic smoke caught her nose. It curled in Ahsoka’s nostrils and sent her back to her time on the battlefield, full of blaster fire and screams. It was the smell of burning bodies.

 _Surely the doctor would have told me if it was in use…_ Her stomach churned at the sickly smell. Being careful not to breath through her mouth, Ahsoka was less that five meters from the entrance the doctor specified when she heard a voice.

“No, no-one got the opportunity to talk to them” a deep voice with a heavy accent said. “No information was spoken. I’ve made the lads look as if the died from interrogation. I cannae stop others from thinking foul play but the esteemed _General_ has his head too far up his arse to notice.” The voice spat the words like he was speaking through clenched teeth.

 _Is that Dedra?_ Ahsoka tiptoed to the edge of the door and peeped around the edge. Dedra stood before two crematoriums with glass doors. His hand gripping at his horns feverishly as his eyes darted between the two furnaces. Infernos burned within around two distinct body bags, some blue grey smoke leaking through the edges.

“Their Clone numbers were: CT 18977 and CT 24983” Dedra growled into a communications device clutched so tightly in his hand the whites of his knuckles showed.

“What is the condition of the enemy?” A voice Ahsoka recognised as a Clone replied in a tinny voice.

“On the knife’s edge of destruction!” Dedra said. “They know there is a spy among them. But fortune had it that all of Saw’s most trusted advisors convinced him to leave rather than find the bastard” Dedra suddenly laughed, as bitter as the smoke. “Fortune for us don’t ya think?”

“Keep in contact hourly. We will be moving soon.”

“Hourly?!” Dedra shouted. He jolted at the sound of his own voice and spun around the room, his eyes swishing over for anyone that could have heard. Ahsoka yanked her head back before he could see her, his heart thudding in her chest. _Dedra…it’s Dedra._ Why did she feel so defeated that it was him?

“My movements could already be considered as suspicious you bastard!” Dedra bowed his head over the communicator buried in his hands and whispered harshly. Ahsoka brought her communicator up to her wrist and typed a message into it immediately. “If I leave fockin’ hourly for our wee chats it will take nothing for them to point the finger at me!”

“That is not our concern” the Clone said. “Deal with it or we will consider our bargain off. Don’t make that mistake Dedra.”

“But I cannae- “the communicator tone droned as the line went dead. “You- you Fockin-!” He roared and lifted his hand to throw the tech on the ground but stopped at the last second. “Just a few more days, a few more days” he breathed heavily and clamped his hands over his knees as if he was about to topple over.

Ahsoka finished the message and hit send, and her breath that she did not know that she was holding was released in a rush. _I have to keep him here until they come…_ Grabbing her saber, the half Jedi spun around into the doorway and ignited the deadly light across her chest.

“Dedra, stop!” she shouted.

The Zabrak froze, and when his big brown eyes landed on her, his face twisted in despair. He staggered away from her, falling into trollies and cold steel boxes that littered the dark morgue. Dedra’s hand gripped a rail hard and even from her spot, Ahsoka could see the metal bend under his strength. Strength or no strength, his lips peeled apart and quivered like a child. “Ye heard, didn’t ye love?”. The roar of the fires filled the silence between them and Ahsoka felt her chest drop low to her stomach.

And that’s why it hurt. Because she didn’t realise until that moment, but she was fond of this charming, jovial man, who always had a smile and a quip on his lips. He had a wonderful smile.

“Yes” she said.

The Zabrak’s lips quivered once more, his eyes wide with fear.

And then Dedra drew a blaster from his hip quicker than his fear should have allowed and thrust the nozzle hard against his temple.

“NO!” Ahsoka shouted and thrust her hand out.

“I’m sorry” Dedra squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Among us theme plays*  
> Wow, I bet no-one saw that coming :D. Who would've thought Dedra was the spy. In hind sight, I should've included another OC so it would be more difficult for you to guess who it is because a lot of you guessed it right lol. But yeah, this chapter was hard to write because it is very plot heavy so there was a lot of juggling rip. I hope you all like it, the next chapter will be out sooner I promise :)
> 
> Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the memes:  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Saw: *Gives the most bullshit apology*  
> Saw: What can I say accept your welcome!  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Saw: Maul, do you notice that Asajj and Ahsoka act strangely around you?  
> Maul: I am aware of the effect I have on women.  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Ahsoka: *looks around Saw's office*  
> Ahsoka: The misogyny is strong in this chilies today.  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


End file.
